


Chuck VS Silence

by Ambear9



Series: Chuck vs Prompts [21]
Category: Chuck (TV)
Genre: Character Death, Chuck dates someone else, Chuck deserves better, Deaf Chuck, Fluff, M/M, Major Character Injury, NaNoWriMo, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-07 10:28:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 54,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21456559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ambear9/pseuds/Ambear9
Summary: One mission changes Chuck's life forever.
Relationships: Chuck Bartowski/John Casey
Series: Chuck vs Prompts [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2071008
Comments: 8
Kudos: 31





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Everything they say is spoken and signed unless otherwise stated.
> 
> When using ASL they don't use filler words but I typed it out in written English for reading purposes.

“HELP” Chuck yelled thrashing around in the hospital bed  
“It’s okay Chuck, it’s okay” Chuck could see Casey’s lips moving but he couldn't hear anything, he reached his hands up to feel his ears, yup they were still there. He looked over at Casey who was writing on a dry erase board.  
‘Do you remember the bomb? You lost your hearing’  
Chuck started to cry, he couldn't control it, he didn’t have any memory of what happened  
“I don’t remember” He realized he had no idea how loud his voice was, which made him cry harder. He looked over at the whiteboard again ‘Ellie is on her way’ he erased it then wrote ‘You are strong, you can do this, I’m here for you, whatever you need’  
Chuck grabbed the board ‘I’m not strong’  
‘I know sign language, I can show you and your family'  
Chuck was still too worried about talking so he wrote on the board again ‘No' he let Casey read it then threw the board against the wall. He squeezed his tear-filled eyes shut and turned his back to Casey.  
He felt Casey's large hand gently squeeze his shoulder, he reached over pushed it off. A moment later he felt the hand again, this time it was lighter, he turned over to see Ellie standing there with tears in her eyes.   
She held out a small note pad that read 'I'm so happy you're okay, i love you so much Chuck'  
He grabbed the pen from her hand   
'I'm not okay, I'll never be okay'  
Ellie climbed into the bed with him, she pulled him into her arms, they both cried together until they fell asleep.

When Chuck woke up again he had almost forgot that he couldn't hear, but only for a moment.  
He wasn’t sure if he could cry anymore, but his eyes sure tried. He jumped a little when he saw movement from the corner of his eye, Casey was still in the chair next to his bed. Chuck just glared at him.  
“Food” Casey said then signed before showing Chuck the word written on the white board that was slightly damaged from Chuck’s earlier throw.  
Chuck rolled his eyes then nodded yes grabbing the whiteboard Casey held out to him, he wrote  
‘A big greasy cheeseburger with fries and a chocolate shake’  
Casey pointed to the words and signed them. Chuck loved watching Casey’s big hands move with such ease and finesse.  
‘You try and you can get it’ Casey wrote  
Chuck sighed, he didn't want to learn, he knew he needed it, he knew it was important but he kept thinking maybe his hearing would come back and he wouldn't need it.  
‘You can't stave me’ he wrote  
“Want to bet on that” Casey signed as he spoke.   
Chuck glared at him, he started with french fry since it was easy, it was like dipping a fry in ketchup, then he did the sign for cheeseburger which he assumed the rubbing of the heels of his palm meant cheese and the motion of making a ball in his hand was hamburger, then he laughed when he made the motion for milking a cow then shaking his hands.  
“Good job” Chuck watched Casey’s mouth form the words and watch him sign, trying to figure out how he was going to remember an entire language in signs.  
He took the board from Casey and wrote ‘My face and neck hurt’  
Casey took the marker and wrote ‘Shrapnel, it’s not bad, no stitches, small cuts’  
‘What happened?’  
‘I’ll tell you later when you can read lips or sign’  
Chuck sighed then signed milkshake again because it made him chuckle.

Chuck was in the hospital for two more days, and Casey was there the entire time. He even drove him home, it was very overwhelming for Chuck to be in the car and see everything and not be able to hear, he wasn’t sure how it would be to drive again, he would have to do some research later.   
"Will I ever be able to drive again"  
Casey shook his head yes.

When they got to the apartment complex Casey lead him into his apartment, Chuck was really confused when Casey grabbed his arm and led him upstairs, Chuck had never been up here before, he was confused. They stopped at a closed door.  
“Phone”   
The sign was an obvious one so he handed Casey his phone.   
Casey opened an app Chuck didn't realize was on his phone, Casey must have added it when he was asleep. Casey handed the phone back to him then pressed the button that was on the doorframe. A notification came on his phone that said door and a picture of Casey. Chuck was still confused until Casey opened the door and Chuck’s entire room was in front of him.   
“Your sister thought it would be better for you to live here since she works a lot”  
Chuck was surprisingly good at reading lips so he got the gist of what Casey was saying but Casey signed and wrote it down anyways. Chuck nodded slowly walking into his new room, not surprised at all that it looked exactly the same, but turned the opposite way and there was a bathroom too.  
“Need anything, text me, I’m going to make dinner”

Casey knocked on the door to Chuck’s on-suite bathroom then realized Chuck could hear the knock.

Casey: Do you have your phone on you?”

Chuck: Yeah, in bathroom

Casey: I know, I can hear you crying

Chuck: Sorry

Casey: Want me to leave?

Chuck: Not really, but I know you don’t do “talking” so it’s fine”

Casey: Let me in

Chuck wiped his face off before opening the door.  
“What’s wrong”   
“I don’t know what you’re saying” Chuck started to cry again.  
Casey sat down next to him, their backs against the bathtub.  
“My face and neck look horrible”  
Casey pulled up and empty note on his phone, Chuck read as he typed.

‘They are scabbing up, which means they are healing, there are only a few that may scar, you didn’t need any stitches, you are lucky.’

“Lucky” Chuck huffed 

‘You are, it could have been worse, you could be dead, the cuts will fade, and the doctor said you may get your hearing back’

“And what if I don’t”

‘Then you go on with life as a deaf person, you're not the first and won't be the last’

“Thanks for the pep talk, now can I cry in peace?”

‘I picked you up some stuff, come down and look at?’

“I’ll be down in a minute”

Casey was almost done cooking dinner by the time Chuck made his way downstairs, he pointed to a stack of books on the table. Chuck started looking through them, there was an ASL book, a hardback blank notebook with a Batman logo on the front, some comic books Chuck had never heard of and a mixture of DC and Marvel comics.  
Casey slid a note into Chuck’s view ‘Not sure what you had, just grabbed a handful of random ones’

“Thank you” Chuck signed, he only knew about three signs and that was one of them.  
Casey wrote something else on the paper ‘I know it sucks, but you eventually need to learn ASL or learn to read lips. I can’t write everything’  
"But your penmanship is so neat" Chuck tease  
Casey growled "Shut up"  
"Did you growl? I bet you growled"  
"I'm not a bear"  
"Did you say you're a bear?"  
Casey shook his head no with a laugh.

Casey really tried to make Chuck’s life as easy as possible, it’s been two weeks since Chuck got home from the hospital and at first Chuck seemed to be eager to learn ASL but then he stopped coming out of his room, Casey would leave food outside the door but Chuck wouldn’t come out to get it until Casey had walked away.   
Casey couldn’t take it anymore, he went into Chuck’s room and sat on his bed and stared at him.  
“Go away” Chuck mumbled.  
"You always want to ask me questions about my personal life, sign them and I'll answer"  
Chuck got frustrated so he grabbed his laptop and opened up a blank google docs.

'Why are you doing this Casey? You have spent the last two weeks with me you never leave my side ...why do you all of a sudden care? Just leave... I'm tired of feeling like this huge burden for everyone. Everyone is changing their lives for me and I hate it, go live your life, go shoot people. You came to Burbank for a mission, the intersect isn't working, so I'm not working, you don’t need to babysit me anymore, I'm an adult'

Casey grabbed the laptop   
'You're a moron, we all care about you, we are all here for you, we are changing our lives because we want to, you have never been and will never be a burden'

“I feel like one” Chuck didn’t remember the last time he actually talked.

Casey was a little shocked at the sound of Chuck’s voice,   
'Learn ASL, It won’t be the end of the world, and if you do get your hearing back, then you still have a useful skill. I know you may feel like it, but I promise, it’s not the end of the world.  
I am very sorry that this happened to you, and if I could go back and change it I would have never let you go in there to try and disarm it. Your life won’t be the same, but you don’t have to make it worse by pushing everyone away.'

Chuck grabbed the laptop back  
'I can’t believe out of everyone in my life, you are the one who has been there for me the most. Thank you Casey, but I just need time to process'

Casey squeezed his thigh “Please come down for dinner tonight”  
Chuck nodded yes

He didn't

Casey let Chuck have a few more days locked in his room, but when Casey woke up one morning to see Chuck’s dinner still sitting outside his door he started to get worried. The door was locked and after multiple times ringing the doorbell with no response, Casey got the key he promised Chuck he would only use in emergencies and opened the door.  
Chuck was passed out on the bed with an empty bottle of whiskey.  
Casey sighed as he sat down, he hesitated, not sure if this was okay, but he placed his hand on Chuck’s back, gently rubbing it until Chuck started to stir.  
He groaned as he stretched out his body.  
“What’s going on?” he mumbled. Casey not able to answer him since his room was dark, Chuck must have realized that because he sat up and turned on the lamp next to his bed, wincing at the bright light. “Fuck”  
“You drank an entire bottle”  
“Don’t look at me like that, I’m old enough to drink, and it wasn't full when I started, and I have no idea what you are saying"  
'Go get in the shower then come down to the kitchen for breakfast, you have twenty minutes before I come back in here' Casey wrote on the whiteboard he grabbed off Chuck's nightstand  
“Don’t threaten the deaf guy”  
“Nineteen Minutes” Casey signed before leaving the room.

“Sixteen minutes”   
“Should I be impressed”  
“Stop being mean”  
“I’m not being mean, I just don’t want you going down a path you will regret”  
“I got drunk one time”  
“You’ve locked yourself away, stopped shaving, you barely eat, you just lay in bed, it’s the start of a bad path. I think you need to go to those groups I told you about”  
Chuck shocked himself at how good he was at reading Casey's lips “You're not the one who lost hearing, I lost both my jobs, which I actually liked, I can barely talk to my sister and none of my friends even care enough to come see me. You don’t understand”  
“I know I don’t understand what you are dealing with, but I’m here and you are pushing me away, I’ve given up everything for you, and I don’t mean that in a negative way, but you need to realize I am here, I am doing everything I can to help you. I am your friend” Casey handed him a cup of coffee “Now eat your damn breakfast, we have somewhere to be”  
“Sorry”  
“Sign it”  
Chuck made a fist and made a circle on his chest.  
They didn’t talk anymore while they ate breakfast.

“Where are we going?”  
“I’m not telling you”  
“I don’t want to go”  
“I know, but I’m not giving you a choice”  
“Really”  
“Yup, I’ll carry you if I have to”  
“Fine, but please if anyone starts with the sympathy for my “condition” please stop them, and this is the last time I’m talking. Don’t need your comment on my choice”  
“It’s your choice if you talk or not, I don’t care”

Chuck’s stomach started to hurt when he walked by his old apartment, he missed talking to his sister every day, she was working on her sign language so it was still hard to have the same deep conversations they used to.   
He hesitated before climbing in the Vic, he had not been in a car since he was on the way home from the hospital and he remembered how much of a mind fuck it was.  
“Not sure what we have planned, but if we are out long enough, can we go to the pizza buffet for lunch? I love their food”  
“Yes”

When Chuck realized where they were he wanted to get out of the car and run away “Absolutely not Casey”  
“I thought you weren't going to talk”  
“I don’t want to do this”  
“I know you do because you and Grimes talked about this movie for like a year and it’s out now so we are going to see it”  
“You don’t even like superhero movies”  
“I’ll survive, plus I like popcorn”  
“What if I can’t read fast enough and I miss something?”  
“Won’t know until you try”  
Chuck closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Okay”

“I want you to try and ask for two tickets and a closed caption thing”  
“Please don’t make me”  
“You need to figure shit like this out Chuck, eventually you can go back to life and do things on your own, you need to practice”

Chuck walked up to the ticket counter, his hands shaking as he typed out what he needed on his phone and handed it to the worker, who nodded at him then pointed to the screen showing him the price. Casey handed over his credit card.  
The teller handed Chuck a piece of paper and a pair of glasses. Chuck read over the paper explaining the closed caption glasses, Chuck hung the box around his neck and put the glasses on his head. “Thank you” he signed  
Chuck felt embarrassed with the box around his neck, and he felt like everyone was staring at him.   
“It’s okay”  
“I looked ridiculous”  
“You looked ridiculous before”  
“Thank you, what a great friend”   
“Now go get us some popcorn”  
It was easier to order the food, they had empty cups and buckets sitting on the counter to show sizes so Chuck just pointed to the cup he wanted and the size of popcorn, Casey paid, and thankfully the drink was fill it yourself so he didn’t have to worry about that.

He was glad when they got into the theater the lights were still on so he could communicate with Casey.  
“I didn’t know they were glasses, I thought it was a little screen”  
“I did some research and called until I found a theater with them, I thought you would like them better than the little screen thing”  
“You’re sweet”  
“Don’t tell anyone”  
“I guess it’s a good thing I can’t hear, so no one talking can ruin the movie”  
“Look at you being optimistic for once”  
Chuck threw a few pieces of popcorn at him. “I can tell you just growled, never thought I’d miss it”  
Casey rolled his eyes. 

“So how was it?”  
“So freaking good, some parts were hard to follow, but overall it wasn’t bad, thank you” Chuck was comfortable talking now that they were back in the car.  
“Still want that buffet after eating all that popcorn?”  
“Can we walk around the mall a little bit, I want to look around”  
“Sounds good, I need some new shoes”  
“I thought you would buy all your stuff at Marines R Us” Chuck laughed, for the first time since the accident he laughed, and it warmed Casey’s heart.  
“We can stop at Nerds R Us after” Casey rolled his eyes “I need new running shoes”  
“Gross”  
“Maybe you should get a pair”  
“Why? I don’t run”  
“Maybe you should start, could be therapeutic”  
Chuck glared at him “nothing about running can be therapeutic”  
“Won’t know unless you try”

After over an hour walking around the mall and Casey spending a good twenty minutes convincing Chuck to get a pair of running shoes so he can start working out with him, they headed to the buffet Chuck wanted to go to.

“Chuck Bartowski eating a salad, I'm shocked”  
“The salad bar is amazing, and did you really just spell out my last name”  
“Chuck just doesn't feel the same”  
“I looked up some stuff about ASL and most people come up with a combo of signs to use as names instead of spelling them out, maybe we can think of something easier than Bartowski”  
“I will start thinking of something”  
“Why do people stare when we sign” Chuck looked around. “Makes me self conscious about the cuts on my face”  
“Because people are nosey, but the cuts aren't that noticeable, they are healing nicely. And the people are probably more interested in the ASL”  
“I couldn’t get a date before, now I’ll never get one”  
“I thought we decided not to be negative today”  
“Have you heard from Sarah?”  
Casey rolled his eyes “Still have a hard one for the blonde”  
Chuck laughed “What was that last sign?”  
Casey spelled it out.  
“Please do that again”  
Casey shook his head no.  
“No, I do not still have a thing for her, I was just curious, she hasn’t reached out since the accident, even Bryce sent flowers”  
“Still have it hard for Bryce?”  
“Stop” Chuck blushed  
“Last I heard she is in Paris with him on a mission”  
“Do you miss it?”  
“All the time”  
“Sorry”  
“Stop Chuck, I told you it’s okay, I finally get time off for the first time since I joined the Marines at eighteen”  
“So you are using me for a vacation?”  
“Yes,” Casey smirked. “Just for the record, I’m proud of your ASL”  
“See, spending weeks locked in my room has paid off”  
“Still not good for your mental health”  
“I’m going to get some pizza” Chuck got up and walked away.  
Casey was finishing up his plate when he heard the sound of a plate breaking and then a man started yelling, Casey shot up when he realized the man was yelling at Chuck.

He grabbed the guy by the back of the shirt and pulled him away “What the fuck do you think you are doing”  
“I said excuse me and he bumped into me and knocked my plate out of my hand”  
Casey looked over at Chuck who has his eyes closed and was shaking. “Did you ever stop and think that maybe he is deaf and didn’t hear you, it’s a buffet, get a new plate and get more food jackass” Casey let go of him with a shove.  
Chuck winced when Casey grabbed his arm, his eyes slowly opening.  
“Sorry” he signed as tears filled his eyes  
“Are you okay?”  
Chuck shook his head no “Can we go home?”  
Casey handed him his keys “Sit in the car, I’ll be right out, lock the doors and keep your phone in your hand”   
Chuck grabbed the keys are hurried out.  
He was still shaking when Casey came out.  
“I’m sorry”  
“Stop apologizing Chuck, accidents happen”  
“We were having a good day and I ruined it, he said some mean things, I could read his lips”  
“Don’t worry about it”  
“Did you have to pay for the plates?”  
“No, I got us some more salad and a bunch of pizza to go and gave a big tip to our waitress who was cleaning it up”  
“I didn’t know he was there”  
“Stop, if you keep beating yourself up I will wake you up at four and make you run”  
“You can’t make me”  
“I have a taser” he spelled the last word   
Chuck’s eyes went wide “You’re kidding”  
“Nope”  
“Can we go home and eat, I’m starving”

Chuck resisted the urge to break the flashing lamp next to his bed when it woke him up and he saw it was six a.m. he groaned as he rolled out of his bed. He opened his door to see Casey standing there in shorts that showed off way too much of his muscular legs, wow his thighs were thick, maybe this was a dream and Chuck could get back in bed. “Please tell me this is a dream?”  
“Nope, time to run”  
“How are you so chipper” Chuck gave up on signing, he was too tired.  
“We are going to run to this smoothie place, get a protein shake then we will run back”  
“Can we run there then Uber back?”  
“You have five minutes before I get the taser”  
“Can I get some coffee?”  
“No” Casey signed before walking back downstairs.  
Chuck went to the bathroom to relieve himself, brush his teeth and splash cold water on his face to wake up, it didn’t work.  
He moved the towel that was hanging over the mirror, just enough to make sure he didn’t have any toothpaste on his face. He couldn’t stand seeing the marks all over his face and neck so he avoided mirrors as much as possible.  
He dug through his dresser until he found some old shorts from when he worked out during college and grabbed a shirt from his closet and quickly changed.

When he got downstairs Casey was waiting was waiting by the front door holding a bottle of water “Drink some, then we will stretch”  
“I’m starting to hate you”  
“Don’t care”  
“It’s still dark out”  
“Oh no” Casey rolled his eyes. “Now do what I do”  
Chuck followed Casey out to the courtyard, where they did five or six different stretched, Chuck lost track after three, between how tired he was and how distracted by Casey’s legs and ass he was, he just hoped he did them right so he wouldn't get a cramp and embarrass himself.

When they got to the smoothie place Chuck actually felt better than he thought he would, he knew Casey was keeping a slower pace for him though. Then realization hit him, he didn’t bring his phone and he didn’t have paper.  
“Are you going to let me have a coffee?”  
“Ice coffee with protein powder”  
“Can you help me order?”  
“I want you to try first, I’ll be there to help”  
Chuck sighed, letting Casey go first, he looked around the place trying to think of what to do, when Casey stepped aside Chuck noticed there was a stack of take out menus sitting on the counter, he picked one up, smiling at the lady behind the counter, once he found what he wanted he pointed to it, she smiled then pulled a pen and small notebook from her apron pocket and wrote ‘Size S, M, L’ Chuck pointed to the S since he knew they would be running home and he didn't walk a full bladder. 

“That wasn’t bad now was it?”  
“Fine, you’re right, I’m wrong”  
“Damn right” Casey smirked.  
“She was nice, I highly doubt it will be that easy everywhere, do I need to remind you of the pizza place yesterday?”  
“If life was easy, then what fun would that be?”  
“What are you drinking and why is it so green?”  
“This is what healthy looks like”  
“Baby vomit”  
“Shut up” Casey took a big drink “Yum”  
“Mine is good too, can’t wait for the caffeine to kick in”  
“How do your legs feel?”  
“Not bad, I am enjoying it okay”  
Casey smiled “Now can I ask why you didn’t just order your drink, and why you aren’t talking now? You are deaf not mute”  
“I don’t like talking”  
“And to think, I could never get you to shut up before”  
“Funny, maybe one day I'll change my mind, right now I don't want to"  
"Ready to run home?"  
"Yeah, maybe tomorrow we can go to that mountain trail you do, I want to see it"  
Casey smiled "I'll never say no to that"

Chuck was sitting on the couch trying to find a movie to watch that didn’t have too much to pay attention too, he was still learning how to balance reading the subtitles and not miss any of the action, when Casey sat down next to him.  
Casey made a C with his right hand moving it up pressing his thumb at the top of his nose right below his eyebrows. Chuck stared at him for a minute trying to remember all his signs he had learned but nothing came to mind, he shrugged making Casey laugh.  
“Your name” He did the sign again but using his two fingers to make a motion like the was pushing up glasses “Nerd”   
Chuck laughed, Casey had combined nerd with the letter C to make his sign name. He was still trying to make one for Casey but for now he just did the letters K-C. He was going to go with J-C for his initials but he liked K-C since it sounded like Casey, sometimes he uses C-O-L for Colonel.  
“Can you sign every time you growl” he really missed hearing his growls.  
“No”  
“Please”  
“I don’t know the sign”  
Chuck held his hand up bending his fingers and thumb in like he was making a claw wrinkling his nose up and baring his teeth.  
Casey busted out laughing, Chuck was sad because he had never heard Casey laugh like that before, Casey must have noticed because he grabbed Chuck’s hand placing it on his throat so he could feel the vibration in his throat, it wasn't the same obviously, but it was nice.  
“Thank you” Chuck signed when he took his hand off,   
Casey grabbed his hand placing it back on his throat. Chuck felt a smaller vibration he looked at Casey confused then Casey raised his hand to imitate the claw Chuck did earlier. They both laughed, but then Chuck’s mind when to what it would feel like if Casey was moaning. He knew he was only feeling like this because over the last three months Casey has been the only person he could have an actual conversation with, the one he had almost every meal with, the one he lives with, the one he relied on to do everything, the one who was there when he was at his lowest point and didn't want to go on. His feelings aren't real, there was no way.  
“I need to get groceries want to come?”  
Chuck shook his head no “Not really, still shaken by the pizza thing last week”  
“If you need anything, text me”

When Casey left, Chuck went to the kitchen to get a snack and finish his movie, then the lamp next to the door started blinking, letting Chuck know there was someone at the door. He looked at the security camera screen and saw it was Devon.  
When he opened the door, he waved.  
“Hey Chuck can we talk?”   
Chuck nodded.  
“I have been working on my signs”   
Chuck tapped Devon’s shoulder “If you want to talk, you have to look at me, I can’t read your lips if you look away”  
“Sorry man, but it is nice to hear your voice Chuck”  
“Don’t get used to it, your signing is getting better, but if you want we can use my computer or text”  
“No, I want to sign this, I’ve been practicing”  
Chuck nodded “Okay” he led Awesome over to the couch.  
Devon pulled a ring box from his pocket. “Sorry Devon, you aren’t my type”  
Devon looked at him confused.  
“It was a joke” Chuck signed as he talked hoping it would help Devon learn something.  
“Chuck, I would like your permission to marry your sister, I know your parents aren't in the picture so I wanted to ask you”  
Thankfully Chuck could read lips because Devon’s signs were horrible, but at least he tried, unlike most people.  
“Yeah, of course, holy crap, yes”  
“I’m going to do it tonight after dinner”  
“She is going to say yes, you two are perfect together” Chuck hugged him. “Welcome to the family”  
“Thank you Chuck”  
“Thank you for asking, and attempting to sign”  
“We have been taking classes, it will help at the hospital too”  
“Tell her to come over and show me the ring tomorrow, I want to see the smile on her face”  
“Will do Chuck”

When Casey came back, Chuck was asleep on the couch next to a pile of tissues. He shook him awake “Please tell me you were crying and not jacking off in the living room”  
Chuck blushed “Crying, and is that the actual sign for jacking off?" Chuck imitated the gesture Casey made.  
"Not sure, just made it up"  
“Help me carry in the groceries and then we can talk about it”  
"Jacking off or crying?"  
Casey laughed "Crying"  
“Big strong Marine can’t carry them on in at one time?”  
Casey rolled his eyes “Last time I did that I broke the eggs, get off your ass and help me”  
Chuck groaned slipping on his shoes and following Casey out to the car.   
“Your root beer addiction is getting out of hand, three cases”  
“Shut up Bartowski”   
"What was that? I can't hear you"

“Tell me what is wrong while we put everything away”  
“Devon came over and ask me for permission to marry Ellie”  
“And that made you cry?”  
“It started with happy tears, then I was sad because my parents won’t be there and Ellie will be sad about it, then I realized I won’t be able to hear the music or the vows and I got overwhelmed then I thought about if I get married, which will probably never happen but what would it be like and I just needed a good cry”  
“I will sign every single word for you if you want, I really like wedding okay, that's my secret"  
"Oh my god," Chuck laughed “You being this nice to me is creeping me out, can you call me names and yell at me?”   
“Hurry up so I can teach you how to make that soup you like" Casey paused for a moment "Moron"  
"Now that's the Casey I know"

“Hi Chuck”  
Chuck smiled at his sister.   
She held up her hand with tears in her eyes showing Chuck her ring.   
“Congratulations” Chuck signed, then decided to say it. “I’m happy for you Ellie”  
“Thank you for talking to me” she signed a few of the words “I’m trying, but I’ve been working a lot and”  
“It’s fine, come in" he went into the kitchen and poured them each a glass of wine.  
“I want you to walk me down the aisle and I want you to be my man of honor”  
Chuck teared up “I’d be honored, but we will need to work on signs so I’ll know when and what to do”  
“We have plenty of time” She pulled him into a hug. “How about we go to lunch and catch up”  
“I’ll cook, or we can order in, I don’t like going out”  
“You can’t hide away forever Chuck”  
“Not hiding, everyone stares and last time I went out I ran into someone and knocked their plate out of their hands and it was a disaster. Plus I don’t like talking in public”  
“I’ll cook for you”  
“Can we cook together? Casey has been teaching me some things"  
Ellie had a big smile on her face. “I’d like that”

Casey was woken up in the middle of the night by Chuck’s screams, he ran into his room, thankfully the door was unlocked, and flipped the light on so when he woke Chuck up they could communicate. He sat on Chuck’s bed grabbing his shoulder, shaking him until he woke up. Chuck sat up throwing his arms around Casey’s neck holding him tight as he cried into the crook of his neck. Casey rubbed small circles on his back until Chuck pulled away.   
“I had a nightmare”  
“What happened”  
“I could hear everyone, we were all at a party and everyone I know was there talking and laughing and I could hear it and then there was an explosion and it went black and everyone was gone” He grabbed a tissue off his nightstand and wiped his face “It’s been six weeks since the accident and I’ve forgotten what everyone sounds like, no matter how hard I try to remember, I can’t” His voice started to crack “But the dream felt so real and the voices felt real”  
Casey got up and walked to the other side of the bed and got under the covers with Chuck “Lay down”   
Chuck laid his head on Casey’s chest, feeling the beat of his heart and Casey’s fingers playing with his hair had him falling asleep quickly.

When Casey woke up he was alone, he thought maybe he had gone to far and pushed Chuck away, but then he smelled the bacon cooking. He stopped in the bathroom before heading downstairs to make sure Chuck wasn’t burning the place down.  
Chuck greeted him with a smile and a cup of coffee. “Thank you for last night”  
“Did it help”  
“Yeah, it helped a lot, I have dreams about the bomb almost nightly, but I guess last night was the first time I actually woke you up”  
“Do you remember?”  
“No, I was having different dreams all ending with an explosion and I needed to know so I read the file yesterday”  
"You probably shouldn't have done that"  
"Too late"  
"Want to talk about it?"  
"No"  
“Want to talk about why there is a towel over the bathroom mirror?”  
“You went in my bathroom?”  
“I had to pee, and I was in your bedroom”  
“I don’t like seeing myself okay, can we not talk about it”  
"Want to watch a movie while we eat?"  
"One without explosions" Chuck made them both a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast with jelly and carried them into the living room while Casey looked through their combined movies to find something.

Not long after they were done eating Chuck's phone rang. “Why does he keep calling me? This is the third time today and it's not even noon”  
Casey grabbed the phone and answered it “Hey numbnuts, why do you keep calling a deaf person? He can’t hear you”  
“I keep forgetting”  
“Just text him or better yet, stop being an asshole and come visit your best friend”  
Chuck was trying to read Casey’s lips but he could tell Casey was hiding what he was saying.  
When Casey hung up the phone Chuck grabbed his shoulder turning him.  
“I hate being left out”  
“I told him you are deaf and to text you”  
“Why is he scared to see me?”  
“He didn’t say”  
Chuck sighed, he really missed having his best friend around, he has only seen Morgan a handful of times since the accident and it was awkward every time.  
“Sorry”  
Chuck didn’t want to ‘talk’ anymore, so he reached over and turned the lamp off so the only light in the room was from the TV and the small amount coming from the closed curtains. The one good thing about being deaf is when he didn’t want to listen to what people had to say he just had to not be able to see them.

Casey was woken up by the doorbell ringing, Chuck's head was in his lap on a pillow, Casey’s fingers in his hair, he really didn’t want to move but the doorbell rang again. He carefully slid out from under him, trying his best not to disturb him. Then checked the cameras before opening the door. "Grimes"  
"Can I see Chuck?"  
"He is asleep on the couch" Casey moved out of the way so Morgan could walk in. “But I’m sure he will be glad to see you, even if you haven’t been a good friend” Casey turned the light on before going over to wake up Chuck "Sorry I fell asleep" his voice was groggy.  
"I fell asleep too, but Grimes is here"  
"Oh"  
"Want me to leave you two alone?"  
Chuck went back to not talking "Stay so you can translate please"  
Casey only signed so Morgan wouldn't know what he was saying "He is your best friend, you can talk to him"  
"Best friend?" Chuck rolled his eyes "If he was he would have been here for me and at least attempted to learn ASL"  
Casey looked over at Morgan who was awkwardly standing by the door. "Get over here"  
"Hi buddy"  
Chuck waved.  
"How are you?"  
Chuck just shrugged.  
“Sorry I have been busy with the new assistant manager job and I’ve been spending a lot of time with Alex before she goes back to school in the fall”  
“You don’t have to make excuses Grimes” Casey growled  
"Are you going to come back to Buy More"  
"I don't think I can" Casey spoke as Chuck signed. "Can’t answer questions I can’t hear”  
“Right, so um what bout you big guy, I heard you are coming back next week?”   
Chuck looked at Casey confused.  
“I have not confirmed anything, just talking about it”  
“I didn’t know” Chuck signed “If you want to go back that’s fine, I can survive on my own”  
“We can talk when he leaves” Casey signed back.  
“So can you still play video games?”  
Chuck laughed “Lost my hearing not my nerd status” Casey still speaking as he signed.  
“You two have fun, I’ve got stuff to do, the dry erase board is on the fridge, or you could talk”

A few hours later Casey came back with some take out, he set it on the counter and headed up to Chuck’s room. The door was cracked so Casey walked into to see that Chuck was alone sitting on his bed reading a comic.  
“Where did he go?”  
“We got in a fight”  
“Please tell me you punched him”  
“No, why would I do that”  
“I’d be sad if I missed the nerd brawl”  
“Shut up”  
“What happened?”  
“He kept talking and not looking at me, and he got mad that I couldn’t hear what he was saying to do in the game”  
“Asshole”  
“Why didn’t you tell me about Buy More?”  
“I just talked to Beckman yesterday, do you think you will be okay if I went back to part-time at the Buy More and started going on missions again?”  
“Yeah, you know I’ve been telling you for weeks that I don’t need you around all day every day, and I want you to go back to spy work because I know how happy it makes you”  
“Beckman said if you want to come back for a mission, try and flash, you can or maybe even try the Buy More”  
“Oh uh, I’m not sure”  
“No one will judge you if you don’t”  
“Can you maybe bring me a file and we can be alone when I try to flash, just in case I can’t”  
“I’ll see what I can do, but Beckman eventually would like to talk to you and would like you to meet Daniel Shaw, the new team member, she is also going to ask Morgan if he would like to continue to work with the team”  
“I think I need some alone time right now, a lot to process”  
“I’ll bring up the sandwich I got you”  
“Thanks John, for everything”  
“You still need a sign name for me”  
“I’m going to keep using the growl”  
Casey rolled his eyes 

Two days later Casey is back on the team and working part-time at the Buy More, after his first day back, he brought Chuck a file.   
Chuck looked at the manilla folder in his hand, fiddling with the edges not wanting to open it.  
“What if I lost my sight instead of my hearing, then there would be no way the intersect would work”  
“Just open the damn file”  
Chuck remembers opening the file, but the next thing he knew he was waking up in his bed with a washcloth on his head and Casey asleep next to him with his arm over him. Chuck poked at Casey’s arm. “Hello?”  
Casey jerked awake “How are you feeling?”  
“What happened?”  
“You flashed, then fell to the floor and started throwing up then passed out”  
“My head really hurts”  
“There is a glass of water and aspirin on the side table”  
“How long was I out?” he sat up  
Casey looked at his watch “A few hours”  
Chuck took the medicine and laid back down, this time facing Casey “So we know the intersect works, it’s my body that can’t handle it”  
“Beckman thinks you just need to take is slow, maybe start with looking at files of old cases”  
“What if I don’t want to?”  
“No one is making you, but you can’t sit around and do nothing forever”  
“I can go defuse another bomb and maybe lose my eyes too”  
“Stop”  
“I need more sleep, can you stay?”  
“Wasn’t planning on going anywhere”  
“Sorry I threw up on the floor”  
“You owe me a new rug”

It’s been two weeks since Chuck passed out, Casey has been on two missions with Shaw and Morgan, and he has been showing Chuck small pieces of the file and he has been able to flash with no issues except the occasional small headache.   
Today he decided to make lunch and take an Uber to Castle, which was harder to get into since Sarah was no longer at the Orange Orange and he didn’t want anyone at the Buy More to see him, but he was able to sneak in and luckily his fingerprint still worked.  
He slowly made his way down the stairs, looking around at the familiar sights, his heart hurt from all the good and bad memories and how much he missed it. It’s only been two months but it feels like a lifetime ago.  
Someone he had never seen walked up to him and started talking, he held up the small notebook he had clutched in his hand that read ‘I’m deaf, I can read lips so please look at me when you talk’  
“Who are you”  
He flipped the page ‘I’m Chuck, looking for Colonel John Casey’  
“He is on a mission right now”  
Chuck flipped the page again ‘I brought lunch for the team’  
“You are not authorized to be here”  
Chuck was nervous so he was having trouble reading his lips.  
He pulled out his phone and sent Casey a text. 

Chuck: At Castle, there is someone here he seems mad. I’m freaking out and can’t understand him.

Casey: we are on the way back, why are you there

Chuck: I made you and Morgan lunch

Casey: I wish you would have told me, we will be there in ten.  
Casey: Do not freak out, please

Chuck: too late

The man was still talking to Chuck but he has no idea what he was saying, but he looked angry, so Chuck walked over to the computer and called General Beckman. When her face showed up on the big screen Chuck couldn’t help but smile.  
“Hello General” He signed  
“Chuck, It’s so good to see that smiling face”   
Chuck smiled bigger as she signed. “This man is angry at me but I have no idea what he is saying, I told him I’m deaf but he keeps yelling”  
“That is Agent Daniel Shaw”  
“I don’t think he likes me”  
“Agent Shaw, this here is Chuck Bartowski, he was our biggest asset before a bomb took out his hearing around two months ago. Agent Casey is slowly working with him to get him back on the team”  
Chuck figured she had known ASL for a long time, she was very good and fluent in it, almost too fast for Chuck to follow along with.  
“I don’t think having a deaf guy on the team is such a good idea General” Beckman signed as Shaw talked. “Our team is doing just fine”  
“Mr. Bartowski has a skill set no one else does, he is a part of this team and nothing will change that Agent Shaw, right now you are not authorized to know about Chuck’s special skill but trust me when I say he is needed”  
Chuck laughed quietly at the look on his face.   
“It’s so good to see you General, thank you for letting me be a part of this team again. I’ll do my best”  
“If you have any more problems, give me a call”  
“Oh and this is my sign name” Chuck’s sign made the General laugh  
“How fitting Chuck” she did the sign “Have a good day”  
“You too General”

Chuck and Shaw sat at the table in silence until Casey and Morgan showed up.  
“We need to talk, now” Casey grabbed his arm to pull him away, but it was too late, Chuck saw her.  
“Sarah is back”  
“I am"  
Chuck didn’t know how to feel, he was sad, angry, upset, hurt and a little happy to see her again.   
“I was going to tell you, I just didn’t know how”   
“I’m sorry Chuck, I didn’t know how to deal, so I took another assignment”  
“Don’t want to hear excuses, it’s fine, everyone kind of gave up on me, except Casey”  
“So are you coming back to the team?”  
“Right now I just brought some lunch” Chuck pointed to the bag that Morgan was already peaking into “I made vegetable soup”  
“You can cook?” Chuck could tell Sarah was laughing.  
“Casey has been teaching me”  
“That’s nice, I’ll go get bowls and spoons for everyone so you two can talk”  
When Sarah walked away Casey put his back to them and didn’t speak “I see you met Shaw”  
“I don’t like him”  
“I don’t either but he is a good spy”  
“He was yelling at me, I had to call Beckman, she put him in his place, it was funny”  
Casey’s eyes went wide   
“What?”  
“Nothing”  
“What did someone say?”  
“Shaw called us lover boys”  
Chuck laughed “Is he jealous of our love” he joked.  
“He is a tool, let’s go eat”

Later than night when they got home, they sat down to play some games at the kitchen table, it was their new nightly routine.  
“So do you think you want to come back?”  
“Maybe I can sit in the van and watch the cameras and tell you if I see anything or flash”  
“You would have to talk”  
“To you”  
Casey shrugged “Can you tell me why you don’t like talking?”  
“I have no idea, just don't feel like talking"  
"Okay"  
“I have an idea, I want to make something, but I don’t want to tell you, not till it’s done, but I think it will make missions easier for me”  
“What about going back to the Buy More?”  
“How could I do that?”  
“Not sure, but I know you love working on electronics, I know you miss it”  
“Maybe I can try it, but only work the same shifts as you”  
“I’m sure Big Mike will let you do whatever he wants as long as his favorite employee comes back”  
“Can we finish our chess game while I think about it”  
“Add not having to hear Jeffster to the pro side of your list”

Chuck was staring at himself in the mirror when Casey walked up behind him, he turned to look at him.  
“Looking nerdy Chuck”  
“Do you think I’m ready?”  
“Only you know that, but I’m confident in you”  
It took Chuck less than a week to decide to give working at the Buy More a chance. “Then let's go” Chuck put his pocket protector in his shirt pocket and followed Casey out to the car.

When he got to the Nerd Herd desk there was a sign that read   
‘Chuck is deaf, please look at him when talking, he can read your lips, there is also a dry erase board’ with a big red arrow pointing to it.   
They also made him a button to pin on his shirt that said ‘I’m deaf, can read lips’  
Maybe he wasn’t ready for this but then he felt that familiar warm hand on his shoulder, and he was right, he turned to see Casey.  
“Hanging in there?”  
“It’s been five minutes”  
“If you need anything, I’ll be around”

Chuck sat down in his old chair, it felt wrong, but also he was happy to be there.  
The first customer was easy, she wrote down what she needed and Chuck was able to help her with no issues. There were a couple more customers that were easy, there was even one who knew ASL and it really made Chuck’s day, but then there were the customers who mumbled and he had no idea what they were saying or the ones who wrote sloppily and it took forever to figure out, then there was the current lady, the one with the classic let me talk to a manager hair cut. Chuck just stared at her as she continued to scream at him, something about being stupid and her phone not working, but he got lost at some point. Eventually, Morgan stepped in and guided her to another Nerd Herd member that Chuck really didn’t know.  
“I need a break” he signed to Morgan who had no idea what he was signing. He walked as fast as he could to the bathroom. He braced his hands on the sink trying to calm his breathing, he had never had a panic attack before, but he was pretty sure he was having one, his eyes filled with tears and he had no idea why. His shaky hands were able to get his phone out and call Casey.   
He wasn’t sure if Casey had answered yet or not so he just kept repeating bathroom between labored breaths.   
Thankfully it worked, Casey’s big arms wrapped around him and Chuck’s body gave out as he collapsed against him, unable to control his crying.  
Casey’s hand rubbed his back, and he could feel vibrations where his cheek pressed against Casey’s neck, his guess is Casey was humming to keep him calm since he couldn’t talk to him like this.   
Chuck had no idea how long they stood like that before he was able to calm down and stand up to look at Casey. He surged forward and kissed him, it was quick, his brain barely realizing what was happening before he stepped back. “Fuck, sorry” he started to panic again  
“We shouldn’t”  
“Yeah I know, I’ve never had a panic attack before, I was filled with emotion, I’m so sorry”  
“Don’t worry about it, Grimes told me what happened”  
“Today has been overwhelming, she was the last straw”  
“Want me to take you home?”  
“No, I don’t want to give up”  
“It’s almost lunch, how about we go grab some food and take a break then maybe after lunch you can spend some time in the cage”  
“I’m going to take lunch alone if that’s okay”  
“Yeah, just text me if you need anything” he grabbed Chuck’s arm “And about the kiss”  
“No, I get it, sorry again” Chuck pulled away.  
“That’s not what I was going to say” he whispered as Chuck walked out the door

When Casey came back to the sales floor after lunch, he saw Chuck back at the Nerd Herd desk getting yelled at by yet another customer so Casey walked over to see what was going on.  
“You okay Chuck?”  
“Peachy” Chuck spelled out, completely ignoring the customer. Who has now switched his anger over to Casey, “Calm the hell down, what’s the point of yelling at a deaf guy?”  
“I need help with my son’s laptop and he is just sitting there”  
“I told him to fill out the form” Chuck signed “He wanted me to do it like I know his personal information”  
"Sir all you have to do it fill out the form and leave the laptop here for repairs” Casey handed her a pen  
“He needs it for homework tonight” he slammed the pen down on the counter.   
“Well then tell him to stop watching porn from sketchy sights” Chuck’s voice was louder than Casey has heard it in a long time.   
The customer’s face turned bright red as he quickly walked away.  
“Jeff and Lester are trying to talk to you” Casey signed “Morons”  
“Good thing I can’t see them” Chuck laughed  
“I like this new asshole attitude you got there”  
“I’ve been called names more today than I did as a nerd loser in high school”  
“You can leave at any time, just let me know”  
“I’m going to head back to the cage and work on some stuff, and on the way home we are stopping at the liquor store”  
“Seriously?”  
“It’s either that or I buy weed from Jeff”  
“It’s probably laced with something that will kill you”  
“Might be worth it at this point”  
“Chuck”  
“Just leave me alone Casey, you can’t always be the hero”

Chuck avoided Casey until it was time to leave, and on the way home, he looked out the window the entire time. It wasn’t until they were sitting at the dining room table eating dinner that Chuck finally looked at him.   
“Can we talk?”  
“I’m sorry I said that okay, I don’t want to die, I’m not going to do anything stupid”  
"You don't have to go back"  
"I want to"  
"It's your choice"  
"I'm going to finish dinner in my room" Chuck grabbed his plate and the bottle og whiskey they got at the liquor store and headed up to his room.

The next day was close to the same as the previous with a few bad customers in between some good customers.  
When Casey came out ot the backroom he looked over at the Nerd Herd desk and once again Chuck was getting yelled at. Chuck was looking down at the desk writing on a dry erase board.  
The rest of the Nerd Herd crew just standing there doing nothing, so he decided to walk over.  
"Can I help you?" he growled  
"Depends, can you fucking hear and talk?"  
“No” Casey said with sarcasm.  
Chuck stood up, sliding the dry erase board across the desk. Casey couldn’t help but laugh when he read it. ‘You can shove your phone up your ass’ then there was a drawing of a phone with an arrow pointing to and ass. But he didn’t have much time to laugh because the next thing he knew the guy was punching Chuck in the face.  
Casey’s hand went straight for the guys throat, his other hand pulling the pen from his pocket. “If I ever see you again, there are at least forty ways I can kill you with this pen, and, I will test a few of them out on you” he growled pushing the end of the pen against the guys chest, “But for now, I’ll settle for this” he pushed the button sending an electric shock through his body. Casey dropped him letting his limp body fall to the ground. He ran around the desk to check on Chuck, Morgan had gotten to him first. “He needs and ice pack”   
“Let’s carry him to the breakroom”

“I’m fine, you two can leave me alone” Chuck mumbled, not signing because his hand was holding the ice pack to his face and he really wasn't in the mood.  
“Why was he yelling at you?”  
“Because people are assholes?”  
“Maybe if you would have talked to him instead of just signing,” Morgan said not facing Chuck so only Casey knew what he was saying.  
“Why the hell don’t you talk Chuck? You didn’t lose your voice”  
“Because it’s my fucking choice, how many times do I have to say that"  
“I think you should go home”  
“You’re not my boss”  
“A customer just punched you”  
“The throbbing pain in my face is a constant reminder of that, don’t need you to tell me” he closed his eyes so he couldn't see Casey anymore.  
Casey ripped a random note off the bulletin board on the wall and a pen from Chuck’s pocket ‘Grow the fuck up, you’re deaf, deal with it’ he scribbled down on the paper shoving it against Chuck’s chest before storming off.

Casey rang the bell outside Chuck’s room for close to five minutes before Chuck finally opened the door. They haven't talked in the week since Chuck got punched in the face.   
“I got you another job”  
“How can you get me a job without me doing anything?”  
“How can you get yourself a job when you won’t leave your room?’  
“I don’t want it”  
“It’s at a no-kill animal shelter not too far from here, I thought being around the animals would be nice, and they don’t talk”  
“What will I have to do?”  
“Feed, walk, bathe, play” Casey shrugged “They have all kinds of animals so I’m not sure”  
“I would actually really enjoy that”  
“I know” Casey smirked. “You can go in tomorrow, one of the employees knows ASL, I’ll drop you off on my way to work”  
“Thank you”  
“Will you come out of your room now?”  
“I guess” Chuck shrugged   
“We haven’t talked in a week, you haven’t talked to anyone in a week, I got stuck talking to Ellie for over and hour yesterday”  
“I didn’t want her to see my eye”  
“Jeff and Lester filmed it, they put it online but thankfully the CIA got it down before many people saw it, but Morgan did show Ellie”  
“Does he hate me that much"  
“She wanted to know why you locked yourself away like a damsel in distress”  
Chuck rolled his eyes “Just so you know, it’s my decision if I choose to talk or not, and sometimes I don’t want to”  
“Sorry I was upset and yelled at you”  
“To be fair, I didn’t know you were yelling” Chuck cracked a smile  
“Are you going to leave your face like that?”  
Chuck scratched at his scruffy face “Maybe”  
“Looks amazing” is what he wanted to say but he settled with “Doesn’t look horrible”  
“Guess I should go talk to Ellie”  
“Bring your laptop, her ASL sucks” Casey laughed.  
“I’ll make us dinner tonight”  
“Sounds good”

“Get dressed”  
“Where are we going?”  
“Surprise”  
“How do I know what to wear?”  
“Jeans or shorts and a t-shirt, it's summer in California”  
“I don’t wear shorts unless I’m running”  
“Then wear jeans”  
“What are you wearing?’  
“This”  
Chuck just noticed the very tight olive green shirt with USMC in thick black letters across his chest. Wow, it looked nice.  
“I need to put some stuff in the car, you have five minutes”  
Casey went back downstairs and grabbed his cooler bag, then grabbed a couple blankets and two of those chairs that fold up into a bag and took them out to the Vic.  
When he came back in Chuck was sitting on the couch tying his shoes.  
“I'm ready”   
Casey couldn’t help but smile seeing Chuck’s shirt that read proud, free, American, nerd with Captain America’s shield as a background that Casey had given him as a secret Santa gift last year. He had to pay Morgan fifty bucks to trade so he could have Chuck but it was worth it.  
“I looked at my phone and realized what day it was, you never wear your Marine stuff unless it's some kind of American holiday.”  
“Let’s go”

When they pulled into the parking lot of the Buy More Chuck started to freak out “No”  
“Don’t worry, no one will see us” Casey parked behind the building  
“What if”  
“Trust me”  
Chuck looked around as he went to meet Casey at the trunk “Whats in the bag?”  
“Just grab the chairs and follow me”  
Chuck grabbed the two chairs and slung them over his shoulder and followed Casey through the back door of the Buy More, “You go first so I can catch you if you fall”  
“That would be my luck” Chuck rolled his eyes and headed up the ladder, he only slipped once, but he didn’t fall.  
Once they were on the roof, Casey laid out one of the blankets and sat down the cooler, “We can sit on the blanket and eat or we can sit in the chairs”  
“Where are the fireworks going to be?”  
“We will be able to see them either way, they are lighting them from there” Casey pointed to a highrise bank office building not too far away.  
“I didn’t know that, Ellie usually takes us to the hospital parking garage, but she went on that weekend away with Devon that she forgot to tell me about”  
“She probably told you, just not when you were looking at her” Casey pulled out a beer for each of them and a small container of veggies and dip.  
“Let me know if you like the dip, I made it”  
“How the hell do you make it?”  
“Sour cream, mayo, and seasoning”  
Chuck grabbed a carrot and scooped some up and took a bite. “Maybe less pickle flavor”  
“Dill” Casey laughed.  
“But it’s not horrible, just wasn’t expecting that flavor”  
“There is fruit too” Casey pulled out another container of cut-up fruit and a smaller container “This is peanut butter”  
Chuck reached over and grabbed a celery stick and the peanut butter “This used to be my favorite snack after school, it’s been a while”  
“Raisins?”  
“No” Chuck scrunched up his nose “I don’t like raisins”  
“I don’t either”  
“I’m curious what it will be like seeing the fireworks, but not hear it”  
“Relaxing”  
“Do they bother you?”  
“Sometimes”  
“If you want to leave at any time, I’m fine with that”  
Casey opened both beer cans and handed him one.  
“If you need to talk, we can use this” he pulled out a small lantern from the bag.   
“What about that light?” Chuck pointed to the big spotlight on top of the building that was currently lighting up the area.   
“It will go out at 2100”  
“Nine is easier to sign you know”  
Casey shrugged popping a few blueberries into his mouth.  
“Want to tell me how you managed that”  
“Magic” Casey held up both hands and wiggled his fingers making Chuck laugh.

After the first firework went off the light shut off making Chuck jump, he hoped Casey didn’t see it.  
About ten minutes into the show Casey packed up all the food and moved their beers to the side so he could lay down. Chuck decided to lay down next to him, Casey grabbed the other blanket and folded it up so they could rest their heads on it.   
A few minutes later a ton of fireworks went off at the same time and Chuck felt Casey jump, they were laying with their arms touching so Chuck just moved his hand and squeezed Casey's hand, he thought Casey would pull away but he didn’t, he squeezed twice, Chuck guessed it was a thank you, and kept his hand in Chucks.  
Once the finale started Casey squeezed Chuck’s hand again, Chuck ignored the pain hoping it helped Casey feel a little comfort.  
When they were done Casey grabbed the small lantern and turned it on.  
“How was it?”  
“I could feel the vibrations from some of the bigger ones, but it was super weird, my brain kept expecting the sound, but it never happened”  
“Did I hurt your hand, I’m sorry”  
“No” he lied “I understand, I bet if I could hear it would really bother me too”  
“That’s what it reminded me of”  
“Sorry, but thank you for bringing me, and making snacks, it was nice”  
“No problem, want to stop and get ice cream?”  
“I always want ice cream”

“Chuck, it’s not that hard, pick one or get all of them”  
“It’s a science, leave me alone”  
Casey rolled his eyes “It’s frozen yogurt”  
“Go get your toppings and leave me alone”  
Casey went over to add some caramel sauce to the top of his half coffee half brownie batter froyo, then he walked over to look over all the topping, he decided on cookie dough pieces, some oreo crumble then topped it off with some whipped cream, chopped peanuts and a single cherry.  
When he was done he looked over to see that Chuck had finally made a decision on the froyo and was looking over the liquid toppings, we went with hot fudge and walked over to where Casey was standing, thankfully they were the only ones in line right now.  
“What flavors did you go with?”  
“Birthday cake, cinnamon roll, red velvet, coconut, dark chocolate”  
Casey just shook his head and walked over to the cashier.  
“I’m going to pay for his too if he ever decides”  
“Are you Marines?” she asked nodding towards Casey’s shirt  
“Yup”  
“Thank you for what you do”  
“Thanks”   
“Is he your boyfriend?”  
“No, just my very indecisive roommate that is going to bankrupt me over froyo toppings”  
“Well you do get a twenty percent off if that helps”  
“I’ll take what I can get”   
“So what’s your rank?”  
“Colonel”  
“Oh nice”  
Casey grabbed a spoon from the cup next to the register and throwing it at Chuck’s head.  
“What the hell Casey?”  
“Hurry up, you have enough”  
“Yes sir” Chuck added some gummy bears before walking over and putting his cup next to Casey’s on the scale.  
“You’re a pain in the ass sometimes Bartowski”  
“Rude”  
Casey handed over his card and when he got it back with the receipt, there was something else with it, but he didn’t look at it, and walked over to a table.  
Before he sat down he stuck his debit card back into his wallet and sat the receipt and what he now sees is a business card on the table.  
Chuck grabbed the receipt “Wanted to see how much so I can pay you back”  
“You aren’t paying me back, you don’t have a job”  
“I get pay from the government for getting hurt on the job”  
“You're not paying me back”  
“Oh look a discount for being a badass”  
“Eat before your giant bowl of sugar melts” he plucked a gummy bear off the top and ate it.  
Chuck grabbed the business card, he laughed “Wow”   
“What?”  
Chuck signed incase the girl at the register was listening  
“Well, it looks like Kelsey wants a date” he flipped the card over showing Casey the name and number with a big smiley face written on the back of the card.  
“Well Kelsey looks like she is younger than Alex”  
“Maybe she wants you to be her daddy” Chuck couldn’t help but laugh, Casey wanted to be mad about that comment but he was enjoying Chuck’s laugh.  
“Go for it, one-night stand”  
“Not with a teenager, and absolutely not with someone who may call me daddy”  
“Don’t kink shame”  
“Not shaming just not my thing”  
“What id your thing?”  
“Not talking about this with you”  
“Is it super kinky?”  
“Shut up and eat your damn ice cream”

Casey was sitting on the couch slipping through a gun magazine when Chuck came busting into the house.   
“I need to talk to you before I freak out”  
Casey just stared at him.  
“I have a date”  
“What happened to being single forever?” Casey teased. “And even with your face still green from getting punched”  
“She works at the coffee shop by the shelter, she put her number on my coffee cup today”  
Casey shouldn't be affected by this news, Chuck is his friend he should be happy for him, but it’s been less than two weeks since Chuck kissed him and he still thought about it every day.  
“So I texted her and she said she wanted to have dinner”  
“Does she know ASL?”  
“I’ve taught her a few words since I get coffee there every day” Chuck shrugged, “She is really pretty and funny and she has a DC sleeve”  
“Sleeve?”  
“Tattoos”  
“When is it?”  
“I’m going to cook for her tomorrow night, here, if that’s fine”  
“Yeah, I’ll find something to do because I’m not going to translate a date”  
“Alex and Morgan said you can go over there for dinner”  
“You got a date and are talking to Morgan again, who are you and where is the real Chuck”  
“Shut up”  
“I guess getting you that job really helped”  
“Yeah” Chuck smiled   
“It’s good seeing you smile like that Bartowski” Casey looked at his watch “Shit I have to go” he lied “I won’t be back in time for dinner so do whatever”  
“Wait, I need advice”   
“Ask Devon, I’m sure he would love it”  
Casey went over and got a few of his favorite guns out of his safe, he really needed to shoot something.

“Hey dad”  
“Is that spare bedroom still available?” he stopped signing halfway through his sentence, realizing it wasn’t necessary, he was just so used to it with Chuck always being around.  
“Is everything okay?”  
“Yeah, just want to be out of the house”  
“I thought Chuck’s date was tomorrow?”  
“It is, can’t a dad just hang out with his favorite daughter”  
“Obviously that is okay, just making sure everything is okay”  
“You know Mr. macho doesn't have emotions, I’m sure he is fine” Morgan walked up.  
“Shut up Grimes”  
“I’ll get the scotch, and maybe order from that Thai place you like”  
Casey smiled at his daughter “Yeah, I’m going to hit the head and put my bag in the room”

Casey sat at the end of the bed staring at Chuck’s name in his phone trying to figure out what to say. 

Casey: Having dinner with Alex and Grimes, going to stay here a few nights

Chuck: Morgan just invited me over to dinner, he said he is on his way to pick me up

“Fuck” Casey wanted to punch something, he went back downstairs to find Alex.  
“Don’t order me anything, I need to go, work called” he didn’t want to lie to her, but he couldn’t tell her that he had a thing for Chuck and was upset that he had a date.  
“Oh man, Morgan just left to get Chuck”  
“Yeah he texted me”  
“Are you avoiding him? Because if you have to work so would Morgan right”  
Fuck, he forgot about that part. “Alex”  
“Dad you can talk to me you know. This entire thing with Chuck has to be hard, you gave up everything to take care of him and it’s been what like two and a half months?”  
“Yeah, about that and I hate when people say I gave up stuff, he is a part of my team, I know ASL, I did what I had to do”  
“I’m not sure what you’re feeling, but you can’t keep it bottled up, it’s not healthy”  
“I’ve done it my entire life, why stop now”  
“Because this is the first time in like 20 something years that you have family and people who love you”  
“He kissed me”  
“Oh”  
“Yeah, and I liked it”  
“Did you tell him?”  
“No, he ran away, he had just had a panic attack and he wasn’t thinking straight”  
“And now he has a date with the cute barista”  
Casey nodded. “He is happy, so I am happy for him. I’m not going to be that asshole that says something when he starts dating someone else”  
“I didn’t know you liked guys”  
“I didn’t either” Casey ran a hand over his face “Can you help me make up something so I don’t have to be here?”  
“You can’t avoid him forever, he lives with you”  
“I just need a few days Alex, please”  
“It’s weird seeing you like this” She put her hand on his shoulder giving it a squeeze. “How about we leave the nerds here to eat Thai food and play video games and we go to that steakhouse downtown that you love, tell them we need some time just the two of us”  
“Thanks, Alex”

Casey walked into his apartment, and he wished he could be anywhere but here, he tried to turn and walk out, but it was too late, she already saw him.  
The blonde girl with tattoos and a nose piercing sitting on Chuck’s lap looked up at him confused. “Um hi”  
“I’ll leave” but before he could she was climbing off Chuck’s lap so he could get up and face Casey.  
“You’re home”   
Man, he missed Chuck’s smile “Yeah, but I’ll leave you two alone”  
“Don’t be crazy, you have been gone for five days, we need to catch up”  
Neither of them were talking, just signing.  
“We can catch up later, you look busy” his eyes looked down at Chuck’s shirt half unbuttoned.  
“Something wrong”  
“Just don’t want to see or hear you two having sex”  
“Oh my god, we are not having sex, it’s too early for stuff like that”  
“I’m going to hit the gym”  
“Do you want to have dinner with us, she has a sister, who is single”  
“I can take care of myself”  
“Gross” Chuck laughed “When is the last date you had?”  
“I don’t date” Casey headed to the stairs “Let me know when you two are done violating my couch”

He was changing into his gym clothes when there was a knock at his bedroom door.   
“What Chuck?”  
“I can tell something is wrong, we have been living together for like three months, you’re acting weird”  
“No, I’m not”  
Chuck blushed when he realized Casey was just in a pair of briefs that showed a lot more of Casey than he has ever seen “Guess I’ll leave you alone since you left me in my room to pout”  
“Just changing my clothes Bartowski”  
“He signs the last name, must be serious” Chuck teased, trying not to look down at Casey’s perfect chest, he has a girlfriend now, he can be thinking the things he is.  
“I spent much need time with my daughter and now I’m home, that is all”  
“Have fun”

It took Casey a few more days, but over the next few weeks everything went back to normal, well except Chuck didn’t need a ride to and from work anymore, most night she joined them for dinner and Casey spent a lot of time at the shooting range, and he never went out with her sister no matter how much Chuck and the girl bothered him about it.

Chuck: I need a ride home, please  
Chuck: The uber app is rejecting my card for some reason, sorry.

Casey: On the way.

When Chuck got in the car, Casey didn’t look at him but he could tell that Chuck was staring at him, he ignored it. He turned the music up and went off to his own little world. That was until there was a hand on his throat, he almost slammed on his breaks. “What the hell Chuck” he pulled into the next parking lot he came to.   
“You could have killed us”  
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you, were you singing?”  
“Yeah”  
“Wish I could hear”  
“Trust me, it’s a good thing you can’t”  
“You were a choir boy, don’t act like you didn't tell us that on that one mission”  
Casey looked to see where he pulled in, hopefully, Chuck doesn’t notice the small blush creeping up his neck. “Just realized where I pulled in”   
Chuck leaned forward to look up at the sign and started laughing “I’ve never been in an ‘adult store’ before, only bought stuff online”  
“I haven't either and I’ve never bought anything online”  
“Should we go in?”  
“No way”  
“Come one, it will be fun, and I could use some fun,” Chuck thought about what he just said “Well not like that”  
“Your girlfriend might get jealous”  
“I’m single”   
“Since when?”  
“Two hours ago, don’t want to talk about it right now”  
“Let’s go in, maybe we can find you an inflatable girl”  
“If I need one, you need one more”  
“You don’t know about my sex life, you can’t hear anything” he winked making Chuck’s eye go wide.  
“Oh my god, I never thought about that” he laughed.   
“Kidding Bartowski” he turned the car off “Now let's go see what ridiculous things they have in here”  
When they walked in the door they both had to show their IDs before walking the rest of the way in. At first, it was overwhelming, there were fake dicks everywhere.  
“Can I help you two find anything?”  
Casey signed as the employee talked.  
“We are just looking around right now, but I’ll let you know” he smiled at her, wondering what it was like working at a place like this, and all different types of people she probably talks to daily.  
“The section you two are probably looking for is right over here”   
Casey shrugged to Chuck as they both followed her, Casey laughed at the blush on Chuck’s face and thanked the lady as she walked away.  
“She thinks we are having sex with each other doesn't she?”   
Casey nodded “Guess so” his eyes raked over the huge selection of lube, condoms and cock rings, and other things he had never even heard of, he had no idea there were so many options.  
Chuck picked up one of the cock rings, it was black leather and Casey started to get hard at the thought of what it would look like against Chuck’s pale skin.   
“Have you ever used one?” Chuck asked him  
“Never, not sure what they are for, not sure what most of this stuff is”  
“Says can make it feel better and last longer and look bigger”  
“Interesting” Casey picked up another one “This one vibrates”  
“This one has a butt plug attached to it” Chuck laughed “I need to look up some of these words to see if there is ASL for it so we don’t have to spell it”  
“Do we plan on talking about this again?”  
“Probably not, but I kind of want to get one to try”  
“No one is stopping you”  
“Is it weird since you are here?”  
“No, we are just two friends looking at sex toys together” Casey laughed.  
“I’ve never done that with Morgan, he does talk about his sex life a lot though”  
“Please don’t repeat anything, that’s my daughter”  
“Right”  
“Look at this” Casey held up what looked like a giant finger trap but made out of silicone “Head to head masturbater, with vibration”  
“Oh weird, but could be fun” Chuck picked up something else “I’ve seen my share of butt plugs, but this is giant”  
Casey’s eyes went wide “Good luck walking after that”  
Chuck laughed setting it back down  
“What kind of stuff do you buy online?”  
Chuck nervously chewed on his bottom lip.  
“You don’t have to tell me, just curious”  
Chuck looked around “I have one like this” he held up a remote control vibrating butt plug and a dildo with a suction cup” He couldn’t look at Casey anymore without blushing.  
“What’s the suction cup for?”  
“Wow you are really sheltered when it comes to sex toys, have you never watched porn?”  
“Not really”  
“Are you a virgin”  
Casey raised a brow “No, just because I don’t have toy experience doens’t mean I’ve never had sex”  
“Only with girls though?”  
Casey nodded “Yeah”  
“Ever stick anything in your butt?”  
“This conversation is going too far”  
“We are in a sex shop together, what else are we going to talk about? Politics?”  
Casey laughed “There was a girl who once stuck her finger in my ass when blowing me”  
“Nice isn’t it?”  
“I prefer to be the one doing the sticking” he smirked  
“Such a top” Chuck teased.  
“Top? Is that a gay thing?”  
“Yes Casey, means you prefer to be the one doing the sticking” Chuck couldn’t help but laugh, it had been a long time since him and Casey had laughed together and he really missed it because Casey never laughs like this with other people.  
“What are you?”  
“I’m versatile” he had to think on how to spell that “Means I’m fine with either, I was top in my only relationship with a guy and I don’t hate it, but I’d probably prefer bottom”  
“Never in my life did I think I would be having this conversation”  
“Well if you have any more gay sex questions, your bisexual best friend is here to help”  
Casey rolled his eyes “So are you getting something?”  
Chuck looked through a few of the cock rings looking at all the different styles and functions “Obviously it would be for solo use since I’m super single now”  
“Going to tell me what happened?”  
“Not in a sex shop holding a cock ring”  
“Fair enough” Casey picked up on of the vibrating one “I think I’ll get this one”  
“You’re getting one?”  
“Yeah why not”  
“So is this a new level of friendship?”  
Casey laughed “I guess so, but maybe we should get out of here, the lady keeps staring at us”  
“Maybe you should get her number, she can show you how to use it”  
“I’ll kill you”  
“Are you going to hit me over the head with the giant butt plug?”  
“Thinking about it” he winked  
"It could probably kill someone in more ways that one"

When Chuck started to head to the counter Casey grabbed a bottle of lube and followed him, they paid for their things separately, then headed out.  
When they got in the car Chuck grabbed Casey’s arm to get his attention “Sex”  
Casey gave him a questioning look   
“That’s why we broke up, well that and she didn’t seem like she cared about learning signs”  
“I’m sorry”  
“We almost had sex once, but I um, this is embarrassing”  
“We just bought cock rings together, nothing is embarrassing between us anymore”  
“I just wasn't into it, and I was thinking how weird it was to have sex with no sound, I enjoy hearing moans” he blushed “and I just got in my own head and I got soft and she got mad, I could tell she was mumbling something, I think she said loser at one point”  
“What a twat”  
“Maybe it’s for the best, but now I need to find a new place to get coffee”  
“We have a perfectly good coffee maker at home”  
“Thanks for being such a great friend”  
“Anytime”  
“Can we get ice cream?”  
Casey smiled at him, he hated seeing Chuck sad, but honestly, he was happy to have Chuck back and not have to see them together anymore. "Sure"  
"Maybe Kelsey will be there"  
"God I hope not"  
"If you ever need me to be your fake boyfriend, I'll take one for the team"  
Casey laughed "Is that so?"  
"Oh just realized what I said" he laughed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to apologize now, I'm so sorry

“What the fuck” was the first thing Casey said when he walked into his apartment, then he remembered Chuck couldn’t hear him, Casey stepped over the sleeping dog on the floor to stand in front of Chuck to block his view of the tv.  
“Dog?”  
“He failed out of drug dog training, he knows some ASL and after a few more classes he can be a service dog in case I have a panic attack again and he can alert me to things I can’t hear and protect me from bad guys”  
“You didn’t ask me”  
“He has been in the shelter for almost six months, he deserves better and we have gotten close since I started working there”  
“Name”  
“A-R-L-O, he is a chocolate lab mixed with something”  
“If he poops on my floor he is gone”  
“Then let’s move to a place with a yard”  
“Okay”  
“Wait seriously?”  
“Yeah, why not? Nothing is keeping us here, and the lease is up in two months, I’m sure Beckman won’t care, I only got this place because it’s close to where you used to live”  
“I’ve also been working on a thing, don’t want to tell you about it yet, but it may be what gets me back on the team”  
“Good, cause I’m about to kill Shaw”  
“Can his sign just be a D for Daniel but instead of sticking up the pointer finger we use our middle one” Chuck demonstrated it.  
Casey did the sign, making them both laugh.  
“We have a meeting in a few hours, maybe you two can join me”  
“Arlo can come?”  
Casey shrugged “I’m hoping Shaw hates dogs and we can train Arlo to bark and growl at him”  
“Or bite his ass” Chuck laughed “I’ll go get dressed”

Chuck grabbed the pen out of Morgan's hand and threw it at the back of Shaw's head.  
"What the hell" Shaw turned around “Who threw a pen at me?”  
Chuck raised his hand "I'm deaf you ass hat, stop turning your back to me" Chuck's tablet read out as he typed, because Shaw didn't deserve to hear his voice, plus he was testing some things for his new program.  
“Did you just call me an ass hat?”  
Morgan laughed.  
“Do I need to remind everyone here that I am the boss”  
They all rolled their eyes  
“We are a team, the only boss is General Beckman” Chuck typed out “And you are the new guy so that puts you at the bottom if anything”  
“I outrank everyone in this room besides Colonel Casey”  
“Maybe on the ass hat spectrum”  
“Stop” Casey grabbed his tablet “You are not wrong but don’t make it worse, we still have to be a team”  
“Yeah Chuck” Arlo growled at Shaw as he stepped closer to Chuck. “Get your dog under control before I do it”  
“Touch him and I’ll shoot you” Casey growled.  
“Back to what I was saying, Chuck, I don’t think you need to hear me since you won’t be coming with us”  
“Why not?”  
“You can’t hear, so what could you possibly do?”  
“Daniel, stop” Sarah ran her hand down his arm  
“When did that start?” Chuck signed to Casey.  
“His first day”  
“Does she sleep with everyone?”  
“Except you” he smirked  
“Rude and you say that like I wanted to”  
“Everyone knows you did”  
“I wouldn’t say no, but it wasn’t like chasing after it”  
"Anyways, he has no say if you go on the mission, Beckman makes that call" Casey slid the file over to him. Chuck made sure Shaw wasn't looking when he flipped through it.  
"Shaw is wrong" he signed, looking around to make sure Sarah and Shaw were distracted. “This guy is dead, he has been for five years" Chuck flipped through a few more pages "This file is a copy and paste of multiple files, all closed cases, something is wrong, none of this actually goes together"  
"I'll let Beckman know, cover for me"  
"Take Arlo out to pee" Chuck suggested.  
Casey grabbed his leash off the table "Gonna take the dog out to piss, be right back"  
"We don't have time for that Agent Casey"  
"I'm sure it will be fine Shaw"  
“Chuck can do it”  
“How about you fill him in, Walker can sign for you because he is coming on this mission, he is part of this team”

Chuck got a text from Casey

Casey: Show Morgan these messages, make sure he doesn't open his big mouth.  
Casey: Act like you are showing him something nerdy that Walker and Shaw won’t want to see or care about.  
Casey: Beckman wants us to go along with the mission tomorrow, see what Shaw does. Us 3 need to watch each others backs.  
Casey: Don't tell Sarah for obvious reasons.

Chuck: Got it  
Chuck: I'll connect my phone to your ear piece so you can hear me, not sure how I'll hear you

Casey: I have a plan, we will meet at Morgan’s after the meeting

When they got to the location Chuck stayed in the van, he had it set up so he could see all the security cameras around the office building the team was in, and there were two lines on the communication coms, one for everyone and one for Chuck to talk to Morgan and Casey. Then there was the small flag pin Casey had pinned to his shirt that was actually a camera so Casey could do quick signs or spell stuff so Chuck could see it, or he would type something on his phone so Chuck could read it. They have come up with a few short hands for stuff since they talk to each other so much.

It had been almost an hour, Chuck didn't flash on anyone and absolutely nothing happened. None of them were shocked since the file was fake.  
Chuck noticed Arlo's ears perk up and it looked like he was growling.  
"Casey, are you outside the van?" Chuck felt Arlo’s throat, sure enough, he was growling and the hair on his back was standing up.  
Casey spelled no in front of the camera  
"I think someone is trying to get in the van, Arlo is freaking out”  
Casey spelled lock in front of his camera  
“The doors are locked” Chuck grabbed the tranq gun and pointed it at the door, trying to keep his hands from shaking.  
“Casey, I’m scared” He looked over to the screen to see if Casey was close, but then he saw the door open and it was not Casey, Chuck screamed, as Arlo lunged at the man.  
“Arlo no” Chuck wanted to shoot the guy with his tranq gun but he didn’t want to risk shooting Arlo. The guy made it into the van with Arlo holding on to his leg, he grabbed Chuck's arm, trying to pull him out of the van, not seeing that Chuck had the gun in his other hand, Chuck pointed the gun towards the guys chest and shot twice.  
The next few minutes flew by, the guy passed out on top of Chuck, Arlo still attached to his leg. Chuck was able to get out from under him and grab Arlo, he curled himself around his dog and waited for Casey.

Casey grabbed Chuck’s arm pulling him up and out of the van, Chuck screamed not knowing what was happening.  
Casey grabbed his face to get him to focus.  
“Are you hurt?”  
Chuck looked down at himself realizing his arms and shirt were covered in blood.  
“No” he quickly signed ‘Faint’ before passing out.

When Chuck woke up he had no idea where he was, he looked around in the dark trying to find anything, then something wet touched his face, he screamed before realizing it was probably Arlo licking his face. A light came on and he realized he was in Casey’s bed, with him.  
“You okay?”  
“What happened?”  
“You passed out”  
“Who was that guy? Whose blood was on me” Then Chuck looked at Arlo, rubbing over his head and body “Is he okay?”  
“It was the guys blood, Arlo got him good, he probably saved your life. Morgan gave him a bath and checked him, there seems to be no wounds on him, he is a good boy”  
“Did you wash me and change my clothes?”  
“I washed you with a cloth the best I could and Alex helped change you”  
“Great, you and Alex saw me naked, embarrassing”  
“We left your boxers on, don’t worry, we were more concerned about cleaning you up and checking for injuries than we were about looking at your past ass”  
“Is he talking? Is Shaw behind it?”  
“He was still passed out last time I checked in, you shot him twice”  
“I didn’t flash on him, but I swear he called me Carmichael, but I was panicking so I’m not sure if I read his lips correctly and I haven't seen anyone say that since I lost my hearing”  
“Morgan and I have a secret meeting with Beckman on video in about twenty minutes, we think you were the target of the fake mission, we think Shaw may be working for The Ring and he figured out you are the intersect and set up a mission so that they can kidnap you”  
“But he didn’t want me to go”  
“Maybe he figured you would fight harder to go on the mission if he kept saying you couldn't come”  
“What are we going to do?”  
“Working on that, right now you need to rest”  
“Can I stay in your bed? Your blankets are better than mine” he only slightly lied  
Casey nodded, “I’m going to go down and check on the crockpot, holler if you need anything”  
“What did you make?”  
“Chicken noodle soup”  
“Feels like we are an old married couple, you going down to check the crockpot” Chuck couldn’t stop laughing.  
“It’s good to hear you laugh” Casey smiled  
“Okay honey, go check dinner” Chuck teasingly stuck out his tongue.  
“Honey is better than baby I guess, now you two sleep and then we can talk more”

Chuck and Casey spent the entire next day researching everything they could find about Daniel Shaw and going through every file of every mission the team has done since he started with the team, and Chuck found that about forty percent of the missions were fake.  
Beckman had Shaw in a fake meeting while Chuck, Casey, and Morgan snuck out all the files.  
Alex and Morgan stopped by for a few hours to help them and have lunch together, but they didn’t stay long.

“Do you think Sarah knows?”  
“No, she would have shot his ass”  
“How will she take the news?”  
“Not sure, but she can’t find out until we are done”  
“I feel bad for her, first Bryce, now this”  
“Let’s not worry about this anymore tonight, we work in the morning” Casey started piling up the papers that were all over the kitchen table “I already made you up a container of chicken soup leftovers for your lunch tomorrow”  
“Thanks” Chuck yawned.

Casey: Need a ride home?

Twenty minutes later

Casey: got to the shelter and they said you left for lunch and didn’t come back, where are you?  
Casey: called everyone you know, where the hell are you Chuck?

Chuck: Chuck can’t come to the phone right now 

“Walker where the fuck is your boyfriend?”  
“Casey I don’t know what you are talking about?”  
“Stop fucking lying, we all know you are boneing Shaw, now tell me where the hell he is”  
“What is going on”  
“He took Chuck”  
“No he didn’t we just had lunch”  
“He is the one behind Chuck almost getting kidnapped, so I’m going to ask you this one more time, where the fuck is he”  
“Casey I know him, there is no way he is behind this”  
“There is proof Walker, and Beckman knows too, we were going to do something about it tonight and now Chuck is missing from work”  
“Did you try tracking his phone”  
“It was on the floor of the breakroom, and his lunch was half-eaten still sitting on the table”  
“I’ll figure out what I can and let you know”  
“Don’t let Shaw know we are on to him or you’re going down with him”  
“I got it”  
“If anything happens to Chuck”  
“I know John”  
“One more thing Sarah, remember your first kill as an agent ?”  
“Yeah, of course, doesn’t everyone remember their red test? What does that have to do with anything?”  
“She was a double agent working for the Ring, her name was Everlyn Shaw”  
“No”  
“Yeah, you killed Shaw’s wife, he is a Ring operative, who worked his way onto the team to get to you, but then he found out that Chuck is the intersect and his plans changed”  
“Oh my god”  
“Yeah, so help me find Chuck”  
Casey hung up his phone and saw he had another text from Chuck’s phone with a location. He forwarded the message to the rest of the team and Beckman before speeding off.

When Casey walked into the building all he saw was Chuck tied to a chair in the middle of the room, his face bloody and bruised. Casey had to hold tight to Arlo’s leash to stop him from running over to him “It’s okay Arlo, we will get him” Casey looked around  
“What’s your plan Shaw” he yelled.  
“I came here to Burbank to find one Agent Sarah Walker” he looked over to her laying on the ground “You know she is the one who murdered my wife”  
“What does Bartowski have to do with that”  
“When I first got here I was approached by this amazing group, you may have heard of them”  
“The Ring” Casey growled.  
“Told me Eve worked for them, then they offered me a nice reward if I could find out where you guys were hiding the intersect” He circled around Chuck, gliding the point of his gun across Chuck’s cheek “I spent weeks looking through every single file, asking that dumb bearded man questions and didn’t find a single file on the intersect. Then I met Chuck and things started to click” He kicked Sarah as he circled Chuck again “The intersect wasn’t a thing, it was a who, and when Beckman told me just how special he was, I knew it was him”  
“So you’re going to kill him?”  
“No, I’m going to kill you, and your pretty dog too” He laughed “then we are going to lock Chuck away and experiment on him”  
“Good luck with that”  
“What are you going to do about it?”  
“It’s not me you have to worry about” he nodded to Morgan who walked up  
Shaw laughed “Him, you’re kidding right”  
“Not exactly” Casey grinned, cocking his gun  
Morgan tossed a gun to Sarah while Shaw was looking at Casey. Sarah slowly stood up “Step away from Chuck”  
Shaw turned around at the sound of her voice but before he could do anything, she shot but as Shaw fell to the ground he fired his gun.  
Casey ran over to Chuck as another shot rang out, he heard Sarah say something along the lines of “This is for Chuck”  
Morgan was already working on getting him untied when Casey got to him. He grabbed Chuck’s face “Chuck, are you okay” he hoped Chuck could still read his lips, Arlo started licking his face.  
“Bad news, still deaf” Chuck joked to try and ignore the pain radiating through his body  
Casey couldn’t help but smile at seeing Chuck’s smiling face again. “You’re going to be okay, I got you”  
“Shaw?”  
“Sarah killed him”  
“Is she okay?”  
“I’m fine Chuck”  
“My face does hurt” Chuck winced but comfort in Casey’s blue eyes “Tell me the truth, is my dick okay?”  
Casey couldn’t help but laugh, “Why would you ask that?”  
“So much pain” he was starting to fade  
Casey looked down and saw Chuck’s left pant leg was soaked with blood on his thigh. “You’re going to be okay Chuck, Ellie knows we are on the way”  
“She is going to be mad”  
“Probably, but she will quickly get over it when you give her those damn puppy eyes”  
“Thanks for always saving me Casey” was the last thing he said before passing out, again.

“Hello?” Chuck looked around and started to panic thinking he had been taken again because he had never seen this bedroom before. He wasn’t tied to the bed so he slowly got up, wishing he could hear if anyone else was in the house, he peeked out the window and all he saw was trees and snow. Where the hell was there snow this time of year he asked himself, he noticed to his left there was a bathroom, so he went in and relieved himself, then he noticed his toothbrush and toiletry bag sitting on the counter. He wanted to brush his teeth but didn’t trust it, so he washed his hands and slowly walked over to another door, it was the closet, inside were two suitcases. “What the actual fuck” he whispered to himself, well he thinks he whispered, it was hard to tell. He slowly opened the door, hoping it didn’t make a noise, but he guessed it didn’t matter since the second he cracked it open Arlo came down the hallway. “Hi buddy” Chuck rubbed his head “Where are we? Did we get kidnapped together? Or did I die and this is some weird snowy heaven?”  
Arlo just stared at him.  
“Is Casey here?” Chuck followed his dog through the cabin, “This is so nice” he looked around but there was no sign of anyone else. Arlo lightly grabbed his hand in his mouth leading him over to a big glass door. Chuck looked out and saw Casey outside chopping wood, which probably should not have turned Chuck on as much as it did. He grabbed a coat off the hook by the door, not sure who it belonged to, same with the big rain boots by the backdoor that was a bit too big but he just needed to know what was going on.

When Casey noticed him, Chuck waved  
“How are you feeling?”  
“Like a bullet went into my leg and I woke up in some alternate universe where you are a lumberjack and it snows in Burbank”  
“We are in Utah, in the mountains”  
“Why?”  
“Because you were kidnapped and shot but an evil organization that is still at large”  
“So now I’m in hiding?”  
“Sort of, Morgan and Alex went in to town to get groceries, Ellie and Devon will be here tomorrow”  
“How is Sarah?”  
“She is in DC with Beckman, they are working with a team to figure out what is going on”  
“How did you get me here?”  
“Ellie cleaned you up and fixed your leg, then we took a helicopter from the hospital to the airport and me and Grimes carried you on to the plane”  
“My leg doesn’t hurt to bad and I’m not in the hospital, so I guess it’s not bad, I looked at the bandage when I went pee but didn't move it”  
“It grazed your inner thigh about six inches above your knee, ten stitches  
“Was it Shaw?”  
“He squeezed the trigger as he fell when Sarah first shot him”  
“He is dead right?”  
“Yeah, she shot him in the head after he shot you, do you not remember talking to us?”  
“No”  
“You asked me if your dick was okay”  
“That’s embarrassing”  
“It was funny, we were all laughing instead of freaking out, so it helped the situation”  
“So who owns this cabin?”  
“Alex’s cousin on her mom’s side”  
“I stole this coat and the boots”  
“Your stuff is in the closet, Ellie brought over your winter stuff from storage”  
“I’m going to go inside, I’m cold”  
“I’m going to finish chopping wood for the fire, then I’ll be in”

Chuck went back into the cabin to unpack his suitcase, one of them was mostly comfy clothes like sweatpants and thin and thick sweaters, two pairs of jeans, a random selection of his nerdy t-shirts, socks, and underwear. The other one had his big winter coat and thick snow pants with a pair of gloves and a few hats and scarves and his snow boots. He put everything in the closet then took his boots and coat out and hung them on the hook where he borrowed the other coat.  
He made his way into the kitchen to browse through the cabinets and fridge, then remembered Casey said Morgan and Alex went to the store. So he went over and sat on the couch, it took awhile to find a comfortable way to sit so his thigh didn’t hurt, but once he was settled Arlo curled up next to him with most of his upper body on Chuck’s chest.  
“Such a good boy” Chuck ran his finger along his snout up between his eyes then back down to his nose, it always made Arlo fall asleep, and even though he has done nothing but sleep he felt exhausted, it was long before he was asleep too.

When he opened his eyes again, he thought maybe he was still asleep, because all he saw was Casey bent over stacking wood next to the fireplace, his jeans were very very tight.  
“Holy crap” he had to adjust his pants because they were getting a little snug  
Casey turned and cocked a brow “What?”  
“Um, the fire feels really nice”  
“Can’t believe you are still tired”  
“Blame the dog”  
“Morgan and Alex are back, want to cook lunch with me?”  
“Yes, I’m starving, did they get Arlo’s food, you know how picky he is”  
“I grabbed his food and treats from home when I was packing”  
“Such a good dog dad”  
“Dad? Wouldn’t that be you?”  
Chuck shrugged “Well he lives with us and you take care of him as much as I do”  
“Okay”  
“How are you feeling buddy” Morgan joined him on the couch handing Arlo a stuffed raccoon, he grabbed it and ran off.  
“Thank you, Morgan, he loved stuffed toys, and I’m okay, the pain is starting to come back since I got up and walked around”  
“Ellie told me to make sure you take it easy and don’t do too much walking or you could tear the stitches because of the location”  
“Glad it didn’t hit an artery”  
“Glad Morgan and my dad were there to save you, I still can’t believe Shaw was behind it” Alex walked into the room.  
“Have you talked to Sarah?”  
“She needs time” Alex sat down next to Morgan  
“I feel bad that she was the one that killed him, I know he was bad and I’m kind of glad he is dead, but I wish it wasn’t Sarah that did it”  
“It was her choice” Casey added in “She obviously didn’t know that it was Shaw’s wife when she killed her, but Shaw also didn’t know his wife was a double agent, it was a mess honestly”  
“Can we stop letting people on to our team, every time we try it's a freaking clusterfuck”  
“Was using that word worth spelling it out?”  
“Yes” Chuck laughed “and once I get my new app working, the three, or four of us can kick some serious ass”  
“Five if you count the dog” Alex smiled. “He did save you”  
“Oh my god, can we get him a cute little bullet proof vest”  
“I’m sure all you have to do is ask with that Bartowski charm and Beckman will do anything for you”  
“She doesn't like me”  
“She does now that you don’t talk as much” Casey laughed.  
“Shut up, now come on and help me make lunch”  
“If your leg starts hurting, sit down”  
“Yes ma’am”

Casey stared at the cock ring sitting on his bed, he hadn’t decided if he wanted to use it or not, but it had been about a month since he had gotten off and after the last few stressful days he could use the relief. Plus last night he got a text from Chuck asking him to come sleep in his bed with him because he was having nightmares, and when he woke up in the morning he was on his back with Chuck’s head on his chest and his arm and leg thrown over him and Chuck’s hard dick pressing against his hip.  
They had been in the cabin for three days so everyone wanted to get out, so Devon drove them all to the mall where the girls could shop, Morgan and Chuck could hit up the arcade while Devon went to the gym. Casey decided to stay back, he double checked that the bedroom door was locked before he stripped off his clothes.  
Before he left Burbank he decided at the last minute to pack the ring and his new bottle of lube and washed it really well before packing it away at the bottom of his suitcase wrapped in a towel.

He propped a few pillows against the headboard, then laid a few towels down before climbing in the bed. He put a small amount of lube on his hand, it took a few strokes before he got hard, he had never been much of a solo person when it came to sex, he preferred to be with other people but the only person he wanted to be with right now was Chuck, but he wasn’t sure if that would ever happen, so right now, this is what he had.  
He grabbed the cock ring and slid it down to the base of his cock, moving it up and down a few times, stopping it right under the ridge of his head, he twisted it around so the vibrating bullet was against the sensitive spot on the underside of his cock, he pressed the button once and almost came at the sudden surge of pleasure, thankfully the house was empty because he could not control the loud moan that escaped his mouth. He pushed the button again thinking it would turn it off but the vibration just changed to a higher one “Goddammit” he moved the ring slowly down his cock. Casey hit the button again to see what it would do, wishing he read the package before he threw it out. The vibration changed to a pulsing vibration, he left it at the base of his dick, he wiped his thumb over the tip collecting the beads of precome, sliding it down his cock, his fingers wrapping around right above the ring, sliding it up and down a few times, not able to stop himself from coming. He has never been very vocal during sex, but he couldn’t stop moaning and he shocked himself when he moaned Chuck’s name through his orgasm.  
He closed his eyes tilting his head back against the headboard, taking some deep breaths. “Fuck” he pushed the button two more times before it finally turned off, he was definitely going to use that again, hopefully, next time it won’t end so quickly.  
A wave of exhaustion rushed over him, he wiped his hand, chest, and dick off with one of the towels, throwing it to the ground before sliding under the top blanket and falling asleep.

“Casey” Chuck knocked again “Casey are you in there?” Chuck tried the handle “Remember I’m deaf so I can hear if you respond”  
Casey stretched looking around “Shit” he quickly put on his boxers and walked over to the door.  
“Hi Chuck”  
“Are you okay?”  
“Fell asleep”  
“You never nap, are you sick?”  
“It’s been a hard few days”  
“We brought back lunch, but maybe take a shower first” Chuck smirked as a slight blush crept up his cheeks.  
Casey looked down to see he didn’t clean his stomach off as well as he thought. “Uh yeah, I’ll be down in a minute”  
“Did you use the thing you bought” he just signed in case someone was listening.  
“Chuck”  
“I haven’t yet, I was just curious”  
“Should we really be talking about this?”  
“Why not? No one can see what we are signing” Chuck stepped in the room “Plus we bought them together, I thought we would discuss our experiences”  
“It was almost too much”  
“The vibration part? Mine doesn't do that”  
“Yeah, I didn’t read the package, there are five different vibrations, almost got off a second time trying to turn it off” Casey blushed, Chuck laughed.  
“Don’t laugh at me”  
“I like when you blush, shows you aren't a robot”  
He wished at that moment he could pull Chuck into a kiss “I should get in the shower, I’ll be down in a minute”  
“I’ll let you know when I use mine, obviously since you and Ellie packed my bags I won’t know till we get home”  
Casey just shook his head with a laugh, grabbing a change of clothes before walking out of the room followed by Chuck.

They were all sitting around the table eating the huge selection of food they brought home and chatting about different things when Casey noticed Chuck had his head down and he looked sad. Casey lightly kicked his shin under the table to get him to look up.  
“You okay?”  
“I love being with everyone but it’s overwhelming with everyone talking, I feel left out”  
“What do you want to talk about?”  
Neither of them was talking, just signing.  
“Nothing, signing and eating isn't easy, just bummed because I see people laughing and smiling and I’m not included”  
“Want to go on a hike after?”  
“No, I thought I was going to lose a toe when we were out today, plus stitches remember”  
“Baby” Casey teased. “How about we look at some house listings and send some ideas to the realtor”  
“I want a pool, and a space for a workshop so I can finish my project so I can go on missions again”  
“You still want to go on missions?”  
“Yeah, I love being a spy, it’s the best and worst thing to ever happen to me, but it makes me happy saving people”  
“Ellie may kill you”  
“You have been shot multiple times, I get shot once and it’s not even bad”  
“Don’t forget the almost getting blown up”  
“Are you really trying to talk me out of being a spy?”  
“No”  
“What are you two talking about over there?” Ellie asked.  
“If any of you cared enough to learn ASL you would know”  
“Sorry Chuck” Alex signed, she had taken classes in high school so she has been one of the only other people who Chuck could easily sign with.  
“Are you upset?” Ellie asked but Chuck wasn’t looking at her so he didn’t respond.  
“I think he feels left out of the conversation” Casey signed as he spoke incase Chuck wanted to see what he was saying “It’s been three months and all of you just expect him to read your lips”  
“Sorry” Ellie signed  
“Just stop” Chuck stood up “I need some alone time”  
“Don’t leave the cabin alone”  
“Stop babysitting me Casey” Chuck stormed off, Casey sighed when he heard the bedroom door slam shut.  
“I should go talk to him” Ellie started to get up.  
“I wouldn’t suggest that when he gets like this he closes his eyes so you can’t talk to him” Casey put more mac and cheese on his plate from the big container. “Just give him time, and practice your ASL. Alex is a good teacher and there are online classes” He took a bit “And here is a tip, even if you are talking to someone who isn't deaf, use the signs, it helps learn them”

Casey: are you done pouting?

Chuck: I’m allowed to be mad

Casey: Didn’t say you couldn’t  
Casey: Can I come in?  
Casey sent a short video of him knocking on the door.  
Casey: I’m knocking 

Chuck opened the door “You’re so funny” he rolled his eyes as if he wasn't going to keep that video and watch it over and over because the small teasing smile on Casey’s face was just perfect.  
Casey held up his laptop “House hunting?”  
“Where is everyone else?”  
“Doing cheesy couple shit out in the snow”  
“I’m sure it’s cheesy but I wouldn’t mind it, sometimes cheesy is nice”  
“Sorry about your girlfriend, you didn't get to talk much about the breakup before everything happened”  
“We were not a good match, I knew it wasn’t going to last long”  
“You seemed happy”  
“It was just a distraction”  
Casey walked over to the sitting area in Chuck’s bedroom where there was a couch, two chairs and coffee table to one side of the room, Chuck was in the master because they didn’t want him using the stairs with his leg and it was the only bedroom downstairs so he got it.  
Casey put his laptop on the coffee table, pulling it closer to the couch once he sat down.  
Casey brought up the website and typed in Burbank and surrounding areas.  
“California is so expensive it makes me sick” Chuck started to scroll through them  
“On the bright side, we have the CIA paying for thirty percent as long as we use it like we use the apartment”  
“Deal” Chuck clicked on a three-bedroom, three bathroom house. “This kitchen is amazing”  
“And there is a built-in grill outside, I like”  
“What about this bright yellow one?” Chuck laughed.  
“Click this one, it’s by the canyon we like to hike”  
Chuck opened up the pictures, “Four bedrooms, three baths, already fenced in yard with a pool and outdoor bar grill area”  
“The kitchen needs work, but the price isn’t bad”  
“Send it to Jeremy”  
Casey got out his phone and sent the address to their realtor, he ended up sending him five addressed before they got tired of looking and shut the laptop.  
“I know you told me not to ask, but I need to know how the mission is going? When can we go back home?”  
“Ellie and Devon are leaving tomorrow night, the rest of us are leaving the next morning”  
“Can we go down to the theater room and watch a movie? I want to binge eat the candy and popcorn”  
Casey smiled “Sounds good”

The small theater room had two rows of big comfy chairs and the back row was a couch with a thin table in front of it. Chuck loaded up an arm full of candy while Casey turned on the popcorn machine and grabbed them both a can of soda from the mini-fridge. This place was usually rented out for vacations so it had a lot of extra things, this was by far Chuck’s favorite.  
He piled all the candy on the table then went over and grabbed a big blanket out of the basket in the corner “I want to live here forever”  
“You can’t even handle fall here, you’d die in the winter”  
“Worth it” he sat on the couch, hoping Casey would take the hint and sit with him. He did.

Two movies, multiple boxes of candy and one giant bowl of popcorn later Chuck had fallen asleep on Casey. Somewhere during the second movie Casey discovered that the end seats of the couch could recline so he moved the table more towards Chuck and extended his footrest, not long after Chuck was next to him, his feet up next to Casey’s his head and arm on his chest.  
“I love you Chuck” he whispered into Chuck’s curls before kissing the top of his head. Maybe one day he could tell Chuck, but that thought scared him, he had never said it to anyone that wasn’t related to him and even that was hard, but it was so easy to love Chuck and he didn’t regret it or anything that has happened between them in the last three months, it’s crazy how one freak accident could change not only Chuck but him as well.

“Dad” Casey opened his eyes to see Alex and Morgan standing there.  
“I didn’t think he would be much of a cuddler”  
“Shut up Grimes” Casey growled “We aren't cuddling, we fell asleep”  
“With your arms around each other”  
“Shut the fuck up Grimes” he growled  
“Dad be nice”  
He tapped on Chuck’s shoulder until he woke up. “Oh hey, guys” Chuck stretched and yawned as he sat up.”Sorry for falling asleep on you Casey”  
“You mean cuddling” Morgan chimed in  
Chuck looked at Morgan when he saw Casey glaring at him.  
“What did you say?”  
“He is making a big deal about us cuddling”  
“Shut up Morgan”  
“Want to play foosball?”  
“Yeah” Chuck stretched again before he got up, thankfully pushing all of the blanket on to Casey’s lap because he was having a very detailed dream about his earlier fun but the dream involved Chuck and he was very hard.  
“I need to go out and chop more wood for the fire” He didn’t but he needed to get some energy out. He waited until everyone left the room before he got up, he cleaned up all the trash and went into the small bathroom right outside the theater room and quickly jacked off because his dick was painfully hard and was showing no sign of going away. He felt ashamed. He ended up running five miles and chopping enough wood to last a year.

A few hours later

Chuck: I need you in my bathroom

Casey: That’s a really weird thing to say

Chuck: Please, I don’t want Ellie to freak out

When Casey opened the bathroom door Chuck wrapped in just a towel was sitting on the edge of the tub, the water tinted red and blood was running down his leg.  
“What happened?”  
“I was in the bathtub and um I started bleeding from my stitches”  
“Just randomly started bleeding, that’s not good”  
“Can you just look at it please” Chuck was trying to avoid looking at his bloody leg  
Casey grabbed the first aid kit he stashed under the sink when they first got there and kneeled down in front of Chuck. He moved the towel between Chuck’s legs so his balls were no longer staring him in the face before looking at the stitches, “Looks like you tore the scab, stitches still look fine, it probably just looks like you bled a lot because of the water” He leaned over and grabbed a washcloth and turned on the hot water to get it damp.  
He cleaned up the blood dripping down Chuck’s leg, then around the wound then gently patted it dry with the edge of the towel wrapped around Chuck “I’m going to put some of this ointment on it, it has a pain reliever in it, then wrap it up again”  
“Thank you, I know Ellie would lecture me about not being more careful”  
“Yeah taking a bubble bath can be dangerous” Casey smirked.  
“Shut up” Chuck blushed. “Baths are relaxing”  
“Next time you jack off, be more careful of the stitches” Casey didn’t sign because both hands were being used to wrap the gauze around Chuck’s leg.  
“Did you just say what I think you did?”  
Casey shook his head with a laugh.  
“I’ll leave you alone to finish whatever, make sure you get all the blood out of the tub.  
“Um thanks, Casey”  
“Next time you need help, cover your balls first” he winked before leaving the room.

One Month later.

“Casey get up here” Chuck yelled, Casey busted into the room almost breaking the door off the hinges.  
“Are you okay?”  
“Yeah, why did you almost break the door”  
“You yelled”  
“Sorry, didn’t realize it was that loud, I just wanted to show you something and I’m not sure where my phone is in this mess”  
“The something that has had you locked away in here for a week?”  
Chuck typed something into the small tablet “That’s exactly it Colonel” an electronic voice said  
“What the hell was that”  
“I have been working on this program, here, put this in” the electronic voice was coming from Chuck’s tablet, Chuck held out one of the ear pieces they use on missions but this one had his initials on it. “Say something”  
“Something” he smirked  
Chuck showed him the screen that read  
Casey: Something  
“I programmed one for everyone so I know who is talking, and I can either type what I want to say or just say it”  
“Wow, that’s amazing Chuck”  
“I’ve sent an email to Beckman about it, she said a team will look over it just to test it, but I’m hopeful, they just have to make sure it’s safe and no one else can access" Chuck picked up the tablet again. "Ohhhhh wait I really want to try something, can you please growl?"  
"No"  
Chuck stuck his bottom lip out and signed please a few times. "I'll buy you dinner"  
Casey sighed "The things I do for you" he growled.  
Chuck had a big smile on his face when he showed Casey the screen.  
Casey: The things I do for you.  
Casey: growl 🐻  
"I hate you"  
"You love me and you know it"  
“Was the bear emoji necessary?”  
“Yes” Chuck had a big smile on his face  
"Get ready, I'm hungry and you owe me dinner”  
“I’m going to bring this so we can test it out with the waiter, I have a wireless mic they can talk in to” Chuck held up the plastic case with Casey’s name on it so he could put his ear piece in it. “Where do you want to go? Can’t be too nice, my nice clothes are still packed and probably wrinkled”  
“We have lived here for a week”  
“I’ve been busy”  
“I know, I’ve unpacked the rest of the house and Alex and Ellie have made it look like it’s straight out of an HGTV show”  
“Guess I need to look around”  
“I’m going to take Alro on a quick walk, be ready in ten”  
“Yes sir”

When they got to their favorite restaurant, their favorite waitress waved them over to her section, and per usual she hands Chuck a pen and notebook. “Can I try something else?”  
“Of course sweetie”  
“I am working on this program,” he loaded up the app on his tablet and typed in the waitresses name “You can just talk into this” he held up the wireless microphone, and ask me something”  
The waitress leaned forward “Okay Chuck what would you like to drink this evening?”  
Chuck watched as the words came up on the screen, “I’d like a root beer please” he smiled at her.  
“You made that?”  
Chuck shook his head “Yeah, going to try and go back to work”  
“You’re so smart, I’ll be right back with those drinks”  
“Are you sure you are ready to come back?”  
“Yes Casey, It’s been what, like a month and Sarah and Beckman both took down The Ring, I should be fine”  
“People will always be after in intersect”  
“And I will probably always be the intersect”  
“Most likely”  
“Why won’t you tell me about the training program?”  
“I told you it didn’t work, what else do you need to know?”  
“One of them shot the bad guy. The bad guy holding the dead man trigger to a bomb”  
The waitress came over with their drinks before Casey could finish his story.  
“I’d like to try the non-verbal option, is that fine?”  
“Anything for my two favorite customers”  
Chuck tapped a few things on the app. He typed up what he wanted, then showed it to the waitress, who smiled and leaned forward to talk into the microphone “What side would you like, we have a new mac and cheese, french fries, homemade coleslaw or a side salad either house or caesar”  
Chuck read the words on the screen, he doubled tapped over mac and cheese and the words highlighted then the tablet made the words bigger.  
“I’ll have the 20oz ribeye rare, with a loaded baked potato and a side house salad with ranch” it doesn't matter how many times Casey signs when he is talking to someone else so Chuck doesn't feel left out, it still melts his heart.  
“Wait, can I change mine? I want a steak too, I still want macaroni and cheese and I want a smaller size and medium”  
The waitress wrote down the changes before walking away.  
“I just want you to know I’m proud of you for being more outgoing and back to the Chuck you were before”  
“I’ll never be that Chuck again, but I’m trying to be a version of that”  
“I’m liking the people we have become”  
“Look at you Colonel sappy pants”  
“I have a steak knife”  
“Oh, now you’re going to act all macho with your steak knife” Chuck’s laugh is Casey's favorite sound, he can’t get enough of it.  
“Now that you’re done with that, and your leg is healed, are you going to start running with me again?”  
Chuck wrinkled up his nose “No”  
“One of the selling points of the house was how close it was to the park”  
“Mainly it was the pool”  
“You haven’t even used it”  
“As I said, I’ve been busy”  
“Alex got me in contact with a friend of hers who does remodel, they should be calling me sometime in the next week so we can discuss plans for the kitchen remodel, and I was going to ask them about designing a deck area”  
“We can have so many cookouts this summer”  
“I told Ellie we can have Thanksgiving and Christmas at our house since we have the biggest dining room and we will have a double over”  
“Oh, I can’t wait to decorate, I love Christmas” Chuck Sighed “Well I did”  
“What’s wrong?”  
“I really liked Christmas music”  
“Just think of the giant tree we can put in our living room though”  
“How high are the ceilings again?”  
“Twenty feet”  
“It would look so nice in front of the big window”  
Casey was glad he got Chuck smiling again.  
“You boys planning for Christmas already? We still have like three months” The waitress laughed as she sat their plates in front of them.  
“We just bought a house, and we are remodeling the kitchen so we are talking about family holidays” Chuck had a huge smile on her face.  
“congratulations you two, you are such a sweet couple, I love when you guys come in here”  
Chuck blushed “Thank you, we like coming here, you are always so sweet to us”  
Casey waited until she walked away before signing “Why does everyone think we are dating?”  
“Apparently we make a cute couple” he shrugged with a laugh, “Even our family thinks it”  
“So since your birthday is coming up, what’s the plan for that?”  
“Nothing, I’ve always hated my birthday, you know that”  
“Four years ago I almost killed you on your birthday”  
“Four years, doesn’t seem real” He took a bite of the mac and cheese “Oh my god this is amazing, try it” he scooped some up on his fork and held it up to Casey’s mouth.  
“This is why people think he are dating” he laughed before taking a bite.  
Casey shrugged “Mine is better”  
“I'm sorry, yours?”  
“Yeah, I make a killer macaroni and cheese, grandmothers recipe”  
“Why haven’t you made me any?”  
“You never asked”  
“Tomorrow, we are having that and hamburgers and corn on the cob”  
“Deal”

“Hi Sarah” Chuck really wanted to hug her but wasn’t sure how she would take it  
“How are you, Chuck?’  
“I’d like to hug you”  
She smiled before wrapping her arms around him.  
“I’m sorry about everything with Shaw”  
“I’m sorry you had to shoot him to save me”  
“I did what I had to do”  
“Are you back for good?”  
“I think so, Beckman said you have some new program you want to try and you will be going on this mission with us”  
“I’m really excited about it” he grabbed the small box off the desk with her name on it and handed it to her “These are yours so when you talk the program tells me who is saying what”  
“I’m glad you’re back”  
“Same” he smiled.

“Casey watch out, oh fuck”  
Casey- Stop fucking yelling Bartowski, it’s not helping 🐻  
Morgan- Who is going to untie me?  
Casey- You shut up too Grimes  
Sarah- I’m on my way Morgan, but I need better clues, just saying there is a window isn’t helping  
“He is on the east side of the building, back corner in one of the smaller rooms, there is no camera down that hallway”  
Sarah- On my way  
“How are you doing Casey?”  
Casey- I could use a little help here  
Sarah- Give me a minute, still trying to get Morgan  
Casey- He is tied to a ducking chair, I’m getting my ass kicked  
“Guess I’ll have to work on the program to understand swearing unless Morgan is on a duck chair”  
Casey- Not a duck chair 🐻  
Sarah- Coming  
Morgan- What about me  
Casey- Shut up 🐻  
Sarah- Shut up  
"Wow the bear emoji is getting a workout today"  
Casey- Remind me to torture you until you stop with the damn bear, now shut up so I can kick some ass.  
Chuck loaded up the app on his phone “please don’t kill me” he mumbled to himself, sticking his phone in the armband around his wrist that used to be one of those work out bands but he modified it to wrap around his forearm. He grabbed the tranq gun off the counter and stuck it in the back of his pants.  
Pulling up the blueprints on his phone he snuck around until he found an entrance closest to where Morgan was. He realized he couldn’t tell if he was making any sound and this was probably stupid but he needed to save his best friend. Luckily there was no one in the hallway or the first two doors he opened. Behind the third door was Morgan. He held his finger up to his mouth to let Morgan know to be quiet. He tapped a few things on his phone so that only Morgan could hear what he was typing. “Be quiet, don’t let them know I’m here, but let me know if you hear anything”  
Chuck got to work on the rope around Morgan’s wrists.  
His phone vibrated and he looked down at it  
Morgan- I heard shots, is everyone okay  
No one else said anything  
Morgan- Guys, the shots are getting closer, oh my god.  
Chuck got him untied as the door busted open, it wasn’t Sarah or Casey.  
“If this guy doesn’t kill me, Casey will”  
Morgan- Uh guys, we need help, now  
Casey- Who is we?  
Morgan- You really don’t want to know.  
“Who are you talking to?” the guy with the gun asked.  
“No one” Chuck couldn’t see his phone anymore, so he had to lean over to read Morgan’s lips.  
“Who are you” the guy nodded at Chuck  
“If you’re talking to me, I’m deaf”  
“A deaf guy? That’s weird”  
“Did he just say weird” Chuck asked Morgan, he nodded. “What is weird about a deaf guy”  
“How did you hear that?”  
“I’m reading your lips, but you mumble so it’s kind of hard to understand”  
“Why are you two here?”  
“You tied up my friend, I was saving him, we were just here ghost hunting”  
“It’s the middle of the day”  
“We were getting our cameras set up, sorry”  
“What’s on your wrist?”  
“My cell phone, it’s how I communicate”  
The guy stepped closer to Chuck, he flashed on a scar on the guy's hand “Not good”  
When the guy went to grab him he flashed again, this time it was kung-fu, thankfully he had been working out more with Casey, he easily took the guy down. “Hell yeah”  
Morgan handed Chuck the rope that was previously around his wrists and ankles “My best friend is so cool”  
They walked out into the hallway to try and find Casey and Sarah when Morgan went down.  
“Morgan?” Chuck looked around but didn’t see anyone, he kneeled down and pulled Morgan into his arms, his hand touching wet, he didn’t need to look at it to know it was blood. His eyes filled with tears as he pressed his hands against Morgan's chest.  
“Help, please Casey, help, someone, anyone” he started sobbing, resting his forehead to Morgans “Please stay with me buddy, I’m so sorry”  
Chuck wasn’t sure how much time had passed, it felt like hours, but it was probably seconds when someone grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him away from his best friend, he screamed and flailed his arms and legs before realizing it was Sarah.  
“No, he needs me” he couldn’t see what Sarah was signing because his eyes were so filled with tears.

Chuck hadn’t talked to anyone in hours, Casey drove him home and signed shower, he wanted to go to the hospital and see Morgan, but he knew he couldn’t be seen covered in blood. He doesn’t remember the last time he cried this hard, he was the reason his best friend could be dead. He watched the water run red along his feet, he scrubbed his arms and chest until his skin hurt, then stood there crying until the water turned cold.  
When he made his way into his room, he wasn’t surprised to see Casey sitting at the foot of his bed.  
“Why are you so red?”  
Chuck looked down at himself “Had to get the blood off”  
“We need to talk about that”  
“Oh no,” Chuck had to grab on to his dresser so he wouldn’t fall. “Please no”  
“That’s not what I was talking about, but he is still in surgery”  
“Can I get dressed”  
Casey nodded and turned his back to Chuck.  
Chuck grabbed a pair of briefs and jeans from his dressed then went into his closet to grab a Star Wars shirt, closing the door to get dressed.

“Can I start by saying sorry”  
“What the fuck is wrong with you”  
“My best friend is dying, please don’t yell at me”  
“Whose fault is that?”  
“I didn’t shoot him”  
“If you would have just left him in the damn chair”  
“That guy would have probably tortured him and neither of you were going to save him”  
“He would have been fine”  
“You don’t know that, and I took down that guy who by the way I flashed on, and he was a really bad person”  
“Good for you Chuck” Casey started pacing. “That was so fucking stupid, do you realize that?”  
“Stop pacing, I can’t tell what you are saying”  
“I said it was a stupid thing to do”  
“I am part of this team, why can’t I help”  
“You do help, from the van”  
“He needed help, I helped, end of story”  
“You got him shot”  
Chuck winced, he could tell Casey was yelling.  
“You could have gotten shot”  
“I wish it was me instead of Morgan okay, I’m beating myself up enough, I don’t need you yelling at me” Chuck’s voice cracked, “I know I fucked up, but my best fucking friend was tied to a chair I had no choice” he was crying again.  
“I’ll drive you to the hospital, I have to get to Castle and settle things with Beckman”  
“She is going to fire me isn’t she?”  
“You’re the intersect, so no, now get your shoes on” Casey went towards the door “I have a gun smuggler to torture”

Chuck found Alex sitting in the waiting room, he was so scared to walk over and talk to her, but he knew he had to.  
“Hi Alex”  
“Chuck” she stood up and hugged him  
“I’m so sorry” he broke down crying again.  
She stepped back so she could sign to him “He is still in surgery, they aren’t sure” she had to pause and take a breath so she could continue without crying “Ellie has been keeping me updated.  
“I don’t know how to tell you how sorry I am for letting this happen, I don’t know how I am going to live with myself if he doesn’t make it”  
“Chuck this isn’t your fault, it’s part of the job”  
“I should have stayed in the van, if I could hear I would have known someone was there, I”  
“Chuck stop, it’s okay, you don’t need to blame yourself”  
“How can I not when your dad just screamed at me and blamed me for it when I already felt super guilty”  
“He cares a lot about you Chuck, and you know he doesn’t care about most people, honestly I think he was just scared for your safety”  
“I just wanted to be part of the team again, I wanted to be a spy, I was only thinking about what I wanted, not what was best”  
“Let’s not talk about it anymore”  
“I brought Arlo, he is great a comforting”  
Alex kneeled down and wrapped her arms around Arlo. “How is my favorite fur boy” 

They spend almost an hour laughing about the soap opera on the tv, and the messed up subtitles reminisced about memories of Morgan and ate some questionable food from the cafeteria.  
Chuck was flipping through a magazine, wondering why people care so much about celebrity's lives when Alex tapped him on the arm, he looked up to see Ellie.  
“Hi” she signed.  
“Please tell me good news?”  
“Follow me”  
Chuck grabbed Arlo’s leash in one hand and Alex’s hand in the other, they followed Ellie down the hall.  
“Things are not looking good, it may be best to say your goodbyes now, just in case”  
“Ellie”  
“I’m sorry Chuck”  
“Alex you can go in alone, I’ll wait out here”  
“Thank you, Chuck”

Chuck: Casey get your ass to the hospital, your daughter needs you  
Chuck: I know you’re mad at me and you act all macho, but Alex needs you  
Chuck: Morgan may not make it  
Chuck: You can blame me for this all you want, and be mad at me, yell at me, I really don’t fucking care, but please I’m beggin you to be here for her.

Casey: I’m on my way, Ellie already texted me, stop blowing up my phone.

Chuck sat outside the room waiting for his turn, his turn to say goodbye to his best friend. What do you say to your best friend who is in a medically induced coma and may not even be able to hear what he has to say. How do you even begin to process a loss like this, yes they have not been as close over the last five months but Morgan has been in his life since he was nine years old, he was there when no one else was after Chuck’s mom left, they were there for each other through all the hell life threw at them and he was the Chewbacca to his Han Solo, he can’t live without him.  
He tucked his knees up to his chest, Arlo tucked in close to his side as he cried.

Someone tapped him on the top of the head, he looked up to see Casey standing over him, he wiped his eyes on his sleeve so he could see what he was signing.  
“Are you going in?”  
“I was giving Alex some time alone” He grabbed Casey’s hand that he held out to help him stand up.  
“Listen, Chuck”  
“I can’t listen, I’m deaf”  
Casey rolled his eyes “I’m sorry I yelled at you, this isn’t your fault”  
“Everyone keeps saying that, but I can’t stop blaming myself”  
“I think you need to go in”  
“What do I even say?”  
“Whatever you need to, trust me, you will regret it if you don’t”  
“Have experience with something like this?”  
“Yes”  
“Can you tell me about it?”  
“Not right now” Casey grabbed the leash from his hand “We will be right here if you need anything”

“Are you ready”  
“I’ll never be ready” Chuck stared at himself in the full-length mirror on his bathroom door. “Why do we dress up? Why can’t I wear sweatpants and a baggy shirt, look how I feel”  
“You can wear whatever you want” Casey came up and straightened his tie “No one is making you wear this”  
“How is Alex?”  
“She is strong”  
“She gets that from you, I wish I was strong, but I’m not, I can’t stop crying”  
“It’s okay to hurt, and be sad, and grieve”  
“Will it ever go away?”  
“You’ll never forget him, and the pain will always be there and over time it will be less painful”  
“I ruined so many lives by breaking the one rule that you gave me”  
“Please stop blaming yourself, please Chuck”  
“We should go before I lock myself in here and cry until I dehydrate”  
Casey squeezed Chuck’s hand “I’m here for you”

“Getting drunk isn’t going to help”  
“It’s currently helping”  
“When you get too wasted you can’t sign very well”  
“Don’t care, I need this right now” Chuck filled the empty glass next to his and slid it across the kitchen table to Chuck. “I just buried my best friend, I just had to watch your daughter fall to her knees and sob, I had to lie to his mom that he son got mugged and watch her say goodbye to her only child. I’m getting drunk”  
“Yeah, good point” Casey chugged down the whiskey and slid his glass back over to Chuck.  
“How do I get out of the spy life when I have no way to get rid of the intersect and they won’t let me go”  
“Probably go back to how it was before, just sending you emails and you tell us the info and we go from there”  
“I can’t go back out on missions, I can’t”  
“No one is going to make you”  
“Six months, three missions, and they all went horribly wrong”  
“None of them your fault”  
“But no one got hurt when I wasn’t there”  
“Stop”  
“Who did you lose?”  
“My mom”  
“You have never once talked about her, ever”  
“She was a single mom raising her only child, worked two jobs, dated dead beats, typical story”  
“How did she die”  
“Car accident, I was mad at her because she wrecked the car because she was tired from working and my arm got broken and I wouldn't be able to play football my senior year” Chuck slid him back his glass with more whiskey in it “The nurse took me to her room and told me I should talk to her while they try and get ahold of my grandparents”  
“Did you talk to her”  
“No” Casey was on the verge of tears for the first time since his grandmother died almost twenty years ago “And I’ve regretted it every day”  
“I’m sorry, but thank you for telling me, and telling me to talk to Morgan” Chuck’s hands shook as he spelled his name “We never did come up with a sign name for him”  
“Can you just promise not to shut me out”  
“Promise” 

The last of the whiskey was separated between them  
“To Grimes” Casey held his glass up  
“To my buddy, the best video game partner, the one who made me laugh even when I didn’t want to, the first person I trusted when my parents left, the guy who I ate entire cheesecakes with when one of us was going through a hard time, my Star Wars movie watching partner, my coworker, the guy who always stole the grape sodas from my mini fridge when he visited me at Stanford. The man who annoyed the shit out of me, but I love so much, my best friend” They clinked their glasses then finished their drinks.  
“I need to get this fucking suit off, then burn it”  
Casey shrugged “Okay” he pushed his chair away from the table, “Follow me” he had to hold on to the chair for a moment to balance himself before heading towards their backyard. Chuck stumbled a few times but followed him.  
Casey stopped at the outdoor kitchen area and grabbed the lighter from the top drawer and a small fire starter log off one of the shelves and headed over to their fire pit.  
“Strip”  
“Did you just say what I think you did?”  
“Yes” Casey put a few logs in on top of what was there from their last fire and lit the starter.  
“These are CIA suits”  
“Don’t care” Casey wadded up his tie and threw it in  
“This is probably illegal”  
“Again, don’t care” Casey slid off his jacket “It rained two days ago and the hose it right there, I won’t let it get too out of control”  
“How about just the jacket and shirt” Chuck threw his tie in.  
Chuck pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket “Fuck” he ran his finger over Morgan’s face “I really didn’t want to cry anymore”  
“Let me take that, I’ll put it in a safe place”  
Chuck handed it to him  
“I’ll be right back” Casey went inside and put the funeral program into the drawer on the coffee table and grabbed them each some water.  
When he came back outside Chuck was slumped down in a chair in just his boxers and white undershirt.  
“Pants?” Casey signed after handing Chuck his water.  
“I got hot”  
“Fair enough”  
“Being deaf sucks, like I just want to sit back and close my eyes and have a nice conversation, listen to some music, I don’t know, anything but sign and try to read lips by firelight”  
“Have you thought about going back to see if you can get the surgery?”  
“I don’t want to get my hopes up and be denied, or go through the surgery and still be deaf”  
Casey threw his clothes into the fire then put the metal grate lid on top so the embers didn’t fly out. “I gotta take a leak” Casey walked over to one of the trees in the backyards  
“Are you really peeing in our backyard when the house is right there”  
Casey knew Chuck couldn’t see if he signed something so he just stuck his middle finger up.

He sat down next to Chuck, “The joys of having a penis means I can piss where I feel like it”  
“Such a manly thing Colonel Casey”  
“Next time you have to piss try it”  
Chuck shrugged and stood up, Casey grabbed his arm to stop him from falling. He went over to the same tree and peed. “Weird, nothing special” he laughed.  
“Now you’re a real man”  
Chuck looked at the empty chair he was sitting in then at Casey, he took a risk and sat on Casey’s lap.  
“What are you doing?”  
“I just need to be held, and your lap looked comfortable”  
Casey grabbed the back of Chuck’s head and pulled him into a kiss.  
Chuck turned his upper body to get a better angle, his hands gripping tight to the thin white cotton shirt Casey was wearing, he was probably being too enthusiastic with his tongue but he didn’t care. 

A few minutes later Casey pushed him back a little bit “We should stop”  
“Why?”  
“Drunk and grieving is not the right time for this”  
“Right” Chuck stood up “My dick isn’t even working right now,” he laughed.  
“You can still sit here”  
“I better not, you’re a really good kisser”  
Casey just smirked.  
They sat in their own chairs silent until the fire went out, then fell asleep in each other's arms in Casey’s bed.

“Happy birthday”  
“Thanks everyone, but this was not necessary”  
“We spent all morning in the kitchen, enjoy it”  
Chuck looked at the empty chair next to Alex, his heart hurt at the loss of his friend. It had only been a week since the funeral, how was Chuck supposed to sit here with his family and be okay. “I just hope Ellie made the pancakes because Casey’s aren’t as good”  
“I made the bacon and sausage, she made the pancakes, Devon made the smoothies and Alex handled the fried potatoes and chopped up the fruit”  
Before Chuck sat down, he went into the kitchen and grabbed another plate setting it down in front of the chair between where Alex was sitting and where he was going to sit.  
“For Morgan” he was proud of himself for not crying.  
“Thank you” Alex signed to him.  
When Chuck sat down everyone was looking at him. “What?”  
They all started signing the happy birthday song. Chuck couldn’t hold back the tears anymore.

“I hate you all” he teased. “I’m not emotionally stable right now, and that was amazing”  
Casey passed the plate of pancakes to Chuck so he could get first choice. “Can’t believe you hate my pancakes”  
“I don’t hate them, they just aren’t as good as Ellie makes”  
Chuck put a pancake and a piece of bacon on the empty plate next to his, later he would let Arlo eat it, but right now this is what he needed to do.  
“Have any plans for the rest of the day Chuck?”  
“Your ASL is getting better Ellie, and no, you know how I feel about birthdays”  
“Thirty is a big one though, why not do something special”  
Chuck sighed “Because Morgan was supposed to take me to the arcade then we were going to binge Star Wars and drink beer and before anyone asks, I don’t want to do that with anyone else so I’m not doing it”  
“Well whatever you want Chuck, this is your day”  
“I want to enjoy breakfast with everyone, then go on a run with Arlo and Casey, maybe take a nap, not sure”  
“Alex and I are going to get our nails done, Devon works, but if you want to do anything call me”  
“How about text, since you know, I can’t hear”  
“Sorry, not what I meant”  
“I was teasing you, it’s okay”  
Breakfast went way better than Chuck could imagine, Devon and Ellie were getting so much better at signing and everyone including him in all the conversations.  
After breakfast Chuck helped Ellie clean up the kitchen, it filled him with happy memories and it was exactly what he needed.

When everyone left Chuck, Casey and Arlo went for a run, then drove to their favorite smoothie place that was on their old running route. When they got home Chuck took a shower, played some video games then took a nap and slept right through lunch.

Chuck was lying on his bed two lubed up fingers pistoning in and out of himself as his other wrapped tight around the base of his cock to stop himself from coming too quickly when the lamp next to his bed flickered and he could feel his phone vibrating somewhere on the bed. He sighed wiping his lube covered hands on his blanket the best he could then quickly put his boxers back on before opening the door.  
A very red-faced Casey was standing there “Just wanted you to know you are very loud”  
Chuck guessed he was now just as red as Casey. “Sorry”  
“Dinner is ready” Casey signed before quickly turning and practically running down the stairs. 

Chuck face planted down on his bed letting out the breath he was holding. He landed right in the wet spot from wiping his hands on his blanket, he groaned rolling out of bed he took off the blanket thanking god that the washer and dryer were right by his room, he put the blanket and some soap into the washer but didn’t start it, he went into the bathroom and took a quick shower then started the washer when he came out.  
When he got down the stairs Casey was already sitting at the table eating, Chuck kept his head down knowing there was no way for Casey to communicate with him if he didn't look at him, he used to do that all the time when he first lost his hearing and was being an ass, now he was just too embarrassed.  
After a few bites, Casey kicked him in the shin.  
“Ouch” He said out loud  
“Look at me”  
“Embarrassed” he signed.  
“It’s fine, everyone masturbates” Casey wasn’t sure if there was a sign for it so he just made a circle with his hand shaking it back and forth like he was jacking off.  
“Oh my god” his blush deepened  
“You don’t get to be embarrassed for jacking off after you barged in on me at the cabin demanding that I tell you about my cock ring experience”  
“I didn’t use it, I forgot about it”  
“Guess there is always next time”  
“It’s my birthday, I was just treating myself”  
“You could have finished”  
“Can we talk about something else?”  
“Why? You used to be all about talking about it”  
“Because I need to get over this stupid crush I have on you and this is not helping"  
“I don’t want you to get over me, under me yes, on me sure, over me, no” he smirked  
Chuck’s eyes went wide “What” he choked out “Liar”  
“You wouldn't be here if I was lying, I changed my entire life for you to make sure you were happy obviously I like you”  
“What about your happiness?”  
“Don’t make me talk about my girly feelings, but I’m happy”  
“Then sign your feelings, no talking”  
Casey shook his head “Eat your dinner before it gets cold, I worked hard on it”  
“It’s from In-n-out”  
“Movie after?”  
Chuck nodded “What about the kiss in the bathroom? Or the intense make-out session by the fire”  
“Both clues that I’m okay with this”  
“You stopped me both times”  
“The first time I was shocked and we were in a public bathroom, the second time we were both too drunk”  
“Why didn’t you say anything”  
“I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea”  
“Yeah dating a deaf guy probably sucks”  
“Because I didn’t want to ruin our friendship, because I wasn’t sure if I liked you because you were just the one around or if I actually liked you”  
“What did you decide?”  
“That I enjoy cuddling with you way too much for it to not be something more”  
Chuck smiled “I like cuddling with you too”  
The rest of the meal was mostly silent with stolen glances at each other.

Casey sat on the couch, while Chuck picked out a movie “I’ve never seen this one” he held up one of Casey’s old cowboy movies.  
“I like it, but we can watch Star Wars”  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yes, I’ve never said I didn’t like them, you just assumed”  
Chuck put the movie in then eager sat next to Casey as close as he could get without actually being in his lap. Casey wrapped his arms around Chuck’s shoulder pulling him closer.

About half way through the movie Chuck got frustrated and turned on the lamp so Casey could see him sign. “I don’t want to watch this anymore, I thought I was ready, but I’m not”  
“We can watch something else”  
“I’d rather kiss you”  
Casey smiled, “I like that plan”  
Chuck straddles him, knees on either side of Casey quickly getting his lips on Casey’s, he nudged Casey’s lips open with his tongue, he could feel the vibration of Casey’s growls and he needed more. He started grinding down his hips, creating a delicious friction that has Casey gasping in Chuck’s mouth. The heat that fills Casey in the pit of his stomach is something he hasn’t felt in a long time, something he desperately needed from Chuck and he was going to take as much as he could get. He gripped Chuck’s hips pushing up and Chuck pushed down, both of the desperate and needing it, their movements have no rhythm, their kissing sloppy, but neither of them cared.

“Casey” Chuck breathlessly moaned burying his head in the crook of Casey’s neck as he came in his pants.  
Casey ran his hand up and down his back, humming so Chuck could feel since it was the only way to communicate with him at the moment. Chuck’s hand still under Casey’s shirt lightly moving up and down his chest.  
They stayed like that until Casey started to get uncomfortable, he tapped Chuck’s back until he lifted his head. “My pants are getting very uncomfortable”  
“Sorry”  
“Don’t be, was nice”  
“Can we shower together, or is it too soon for that?”  
“We just dry humped each other, I don’t think it’s too soon for that”  
“But showering involves us being naked together”  
“I’m okay with it”  
Chuck climbed off of him, pulling his pants away from his body, making Casey laugh when he scrunched his nose.  
“You started it”  
“I regret nothing”  
Casey stood up and gave Chuck a quick kiss “My shower is bigger” he grabbed Chuck’s hand and lead him upstairs to his on-suite bathroom.  
“Can I undress you?”  
“Depends, are we officially a couple now?”  
“Do I need to ask you? Chuck Bartowski will you be my boyfriend?” Casey couldn’t help but laugh at how ridiculous he felt.  
Chuck blushed “It’s about damn time” lifting his arms so Casey could pull his shirt off.  
Casey kissed along Chuck’s shoulder to his neck as he worked on getting Chuck’s pants unbuttoned.  
Once Chuck was naked he started to undress his new boyfriend, almost giddy with excitement to see him naked for the first time.  
“The giant smile on your face is nice to see”  
“I’m about to see you naked, I’m excited”  
Casey rolled his eyes  
Chuck kneeled down pulling Casey’s pants down as he went. He took a deep breath looking up his eyes met with Casey’s as he pulled his briefs down.  
“I thought it would be bigger” Chuck laughed  
“Only been dating five minutes and we are already breaking up” Casey walked over and turned the shower on, Chuck smacked his ass when he bent over “It’s so nice”  
Casey turned around to look at him, “I think we should wait a little bit before we have sex”  
“Did I do something wrong?”  
“No” he grabbed Chuck’s hand pulling him into the shower with him “I just don’t want to rush it”  
“It’s literally our four year anniversary of knowing each other”  
“But we just became a couple, and not only have I never been with a guy, I’ve never even thought about it until a few months ago when I got feelings for you”  
“I turned you gay?”  
“I guess so”  
“I’m putting that on my resume”  
“Turn around and let me wash your hair”

“We should still sleep in our own rooms”  
“Yeah, okay” Chuck grabbed Casey’s face “You are so handsome” he ghosted his lips over Casey’s “And you’re all mine” they stood there for about a minute kissing.  
“Goodnight” Casey kissed his forehead 

A few hours later Casey felt Chuck and Arlo crawl into bed with him, he didn’t want to turn the light on so he just pulled Chuck into his arms and fell back asleep.

“Wake up”  
“Glad I can’t hear you because I know you are probably yelling at me”  
Casey flicked his foot  
“The sun just woke up, I’m staying in bed”  
Casey sat down next to Chuck and grabbed his face kissing him deeply, not caring about the morning breath  
“Wow, okay, I’m up”  
“Contractors will be there in twenty minutes, time to get up”  
“Why do I need to be there?”  
“It’s our house and we need to make sure they have all the right stuff for a deaf man”  
“Ugh, but I want to sleep”  
“It was your idea to wake up at three and make out”  
“Worth it”  
“Now get up, I have coffee and a breakfast burrito with your name on it”  
“With extra bacon”  
“Of course”  
“Fine”

“We have already replaced all the fire alarms with the blinky ones and the doorbell that alerts my phone, what else is there?”  
Casey signed as the contractor spoke “Well lucky for you we live in a time of insane technology, so we can link the oven to your phone, it will tell you when it’s preheated and when the timer is up, you can also set the temperature through the phone”  
“He got me the bed shaker alarm, I smashed it with a hammer”  
The contractor, Jason, laughed  
“We want the double oven, and I want grey, black and white color scheme, I’m thinking grey cabinets with white countertops that have like the black and grey swirl things and then black appliances and I was thinking we turn that half bathroom into a walk-in pantry, it’s way too small of a bathroom and there is a toilet and sink in the laundry room so we don’t need two down here”  
“Damn Chuck, you have put a lot of thought into this”  
“Well I’ve had a few weeks off work so I’ve been looking up ideas, I also found a light fixture I’d like above the island”  
“Send me the link and I’ll look at measurements and let you know if it works”  
“And you told me you didn’t need to be here”  
“I’m not a morning person, oh and I want that cabinet” Chuck pointed to the cabinet at the end “I want it to have a glass front so we can show off our coffee cup collection”  
“I’d like the island to have a pullout trash can”  
“Oh yeah, good idea Casey, and are you okay with my idea?”  
“Sounds good to me, I don’t care what it looks like, I just want space to cook”  
“I saw this idea, I’ll have to email you the picture but the end of the island I want to have a built-in thing for Arlo’s food bowls and we can keep his food and treats in one of the island cabinets”  
“Nice idea, anything else?”  
“Not that I can think of”  
“Okay, I will take all these notes and look at the pictures you email me and I’ll have some ideas drawn up a few ideas and we can meet up again and figure out a game plan”  
“I know it’s October first, but I’m just curious if we will be able to use the kitchen for Thanksgiving, it doesn’t have to be one hundred percent, but my sister was excited about the double oven”  
“Your stoves will be ready but you may have to have wood countertops with table clothes on them”  
“That will be fine”  
“A big plus is you already have nice floors and the backsplash is nice just needs new grout and some cleaning, and the pantry probably won't be done”  
“We will make it work, now let’s go look at the backyard”  
Casey lead them out to the backyard “We don’t need much back here, we just want to make it flow better and have stone that connects everything, the random patches of grass are hard to mow, I love this outdoor kitchen area, but I want to put stone over this grass patch over here so we can put a table and chairs, then that patch we watch store for lounge chairs and then break up that stone over there that makes no sense and make it grass and that will be Arlo’s area and where the little play area is we want that old mulch gone and maybe replaced with either fake grass or rubber tiles”  
“Take a breath” Chuck laughed.  
“You put a lot of thought into the kitchen, I put a lot of thought into this”  
“I never thought about changing the stuff under the playset, that’s a good idea, does that mean we are having kids?”  
“We have been dating less than forty eight hours, let's not talk about having kids”  
“True, and it could always be for the million kids Ellie is probably going to have”  
They chatted with Jason for a few more minutes before he left.

“Now we need to move everything from the kitchen to the dining room and attempt to keep it organized so we know where everything is”  
“Yay, just how I wanted to spend my day”  
“Then go back to bed, I’ll do it”  
“Can we go to Ikea?”  
“Why?”  
“We can buy cheap like bookcases or something to organize what is in our current pantry and other stuff, I also want to look for a drawer thing to put in the office and maybe look for stuff for the new kitchen”  
“Sure”  
“I have a serious question before we go”  
“I can’t even imagine what you are about to say”  
“How do you feel about hand holding in public?”  
“I have negative feelings about it”  
“Of course”  
“Is it something you feel strongly about?”  
“I’d like to show off my sexy hunk of man meat boyfriend”  
Casey rolled his eyes “Five minutes of handholding, two kisses and one ass grab”  
“Your ass or mine?”  
“Either”  
“Per hour”  
“Deal” Casey pulled Chuck into a kiss 

“I look ridiculous”  
“You look handsome” Ellie signed.  
“Why do I have to wear purple, purple suits are weird”  
“You have to match the rest of the girls”  
“Can I wear grey with a purple shirt or something?”  
“Looks good dude” Devon gave him a thumbs up.  
“You’re only saying that because you get to wear a normal colored suit”  
“Send a picture to Casey, he probably thinks you look handsome”  
“Why would I do that?”  
“Because he is your boyfriend”  
“How do you know”  
“I’m your sister, I can tell”  
“It hasn’t even been a week, he told you didn’t he”  
“Alex told me, now try on this tie, I can't decide if I want you to wear one”  
“You’re lucky I love you”  
“Stop complaining about the color, it looks nice”  
“Looks like hey look at my bisexual brother is in lavender suit”  
“No one is going to think that” Ellie roller her eyes  
“Just please don’t tell me I have to carry flower”  
“No, just have to hold mine when Devon and I exchange our rings”  
“Would it be possible to get a print out after so I can read what was said?”  
“Of course”  
“After Devon ask me permission, I had a breakdown and cried thinking about one day I may get married and it made me sad knowing I won't be able to hear the vows”  
“How I look at it is your vows can just be in ASL and it will be something special between the two of you that very few people will know”  
“Can Arlo come and wear a tie, he will be good I promise”  
Ellie laughed “Sure, if it’s the same color as your suit”  
“He is color blind so I’m sure he won’t mind”  
“Think he could be the ring bearer”  
“Oh my god that would be absolutely adorable” Chuck snapped a picture of himself so he could send it to Casey. “Are you getting nervous?”  
“No, I’m so excited, no time to be nervous”  
“I can’t wait to see how amazingly beautiful you look in your dress, I’m sorry mom and dad won’t be around to see it”  
“Thank you, Chuck, it does bother my a little, but I have the people who are most important here and that’s what matters”  
“I love you sis”  
“Love you, Chuck”

Casey was in the kitchen cooking dinner when Chuck got home.  
“Hey, how was it?” Casey caught Chuck before he fell to the ground “You’re okay” he knew Chuck had no idea what he was saying but he held him as he cried. He kept ahold of him as he stepped back to move the pot off the burner and turn it off.  
Chuck clung to him as he walked them over to the living room, he sat down in the big recliner, Chuck still in his arms. He let him cry for a few minutes before holding his face in his hands so he can look at him. “Are you really that mad about the purple suit”  
The corner of Chuck’s went up a little as he attempted a smiled.  
“No” he signed without talking. “But did you like it?”  
“Don’t make me answer that”  
“Ellie said you would think I look handsome”  
“You do, but that color is weird”  
“I’m really sad, sorry” his voice cracked.  
“Want to talk about it?”  
“I always imagined Morgan standing by my side if I ever got married”  
“I don’t know what to say, I’m sorry”  
“You don’t have to say anything, just hold me”  
“I can do that”  
“Wait, were you cooking dinner?”  
“I was, but that’s not important right now”  
Casey rubbed his back until he fell asleep.  
He managed to pull his phone out of his pocket without disturbing Chuck.

“Hey Alex”  
“Hi Dad, how are you?”  
“Chuck just came home and collapsed in my arms crying, now he is asleep”  
“What’s going on?”  
“He went for his suit fitting with Ellie and I guess it got him thinking about one day if he got married and not having Morgan there, and I have no idea what to do or say to him”  
“Just let him know you are there for him and that you will listen if he needs to talk”  
“I’m not used to this, the last six months have been interesting I guess is the best way to put it”  
“I know we haven’t known each other for a super long time, but I do like the person you are when Chuck is around, it’s like he brought out your soft side”  
“Gross”  
Alex laughed “I am happy that you two finally got together, it was ridiculous that you both liked each other but never did anything about it”  
“Honestly, I’m scared, what if something happens to me on a mission, what if I hurt him by saying or doing the wrong thing”  
“Just do what you have been doing, just add kissing and hand-holding, and other things I don’t want to know about”  
“Do you want to come over and have dinner?”  
“Sure, what are you making?”  
“I was going to make some pork chops with green beans but Chuck came in while I was cooking them”  
“I’ll pick something up”  
“Thank you”  
“See you in like half an hour”  
“Hey Alex, I love you”  
“Love you too dad”

“Are you sure you’re ready?”  
“No, but yes, that talk with Alex last week helped, and Margret said I could come back whenever, so I told her Monday, and today is Monday”  
“Is Arlo coming with you?”  
“Yeah, he needs a haircut and bath really bad”  
“I’ll be at Castle today looking through potential new members with Walker, but if you need anything text me”  
“I am excited to be working again, and getting out of the house, but I’m also nervous”  
“Just promise you won’t be coming home with any new animals”  
“Why not, I’ve always wanted a cat”  
“I’d rather have another dog, but not until the house is done and we are all settled”  
“What if we got Alex a dog? Do you think she would like that?”  
“I’ll see when he next day off is and I can bring her over to the shelter and see what she thinks”  
“Oh and make sure before you hire anyone you let me look at the file and see if I flash”  
“If you are up for it”  
“I have this stupid thing, might as well use it” he tapped his forehead.  
“Beckman is still working on that, they are looking for someone named Orian, he is the one who made the intersect”  
“If you get any information on him, maybe I can flash”  
“He probably didn’t put himself in the intersect, from what she said he is a hard man to find”  
“Have they talked to Bryce”  
“Yeah, but you know how good he is at lying, pretty sure he knows more than he is saying”  
“Can you get me his file?”  
“How about after work I’ll come pick you up, we grab dinner and eat at Castle and you can help me look at some files and I’ll slip Bryce’s in”  
“Does Sarah and Beckman know we are a couple now?”  
“Most people think we have been dating for months, but Alex is the only one I’ve told officially”  
“And she told Ellie”  
“They have gotten closer over the last month”  
“I think she is going to ask Alex to be one of her bridesmaids”  
“Please don’t tell me now that we are together Devon wants me as a groomsmen”  
“I don’t think so, he has four brothers and so many frat bros, but you are dancing with me”  
“Only if it’s the Tango”  
“Oh my god” Chuck laughed “I was so mad at you for that”  
“It came in handy though didn’t it”  
“Yeah I danced with a scary woman and almost got killed, fun times”  
“Let’s get you to work”  
“One more kiss before we go”

“My head is killing me”  
“Next time, medicine before flashing”  
“One more file to go” Chuck looked at the folder with Bryce’s name on it. “Can I see your file”  
“No”  
“Why not?”  
“It’s classified”  
“Oh whatever, I already flashed on Alex Coburn”  
“But John Casey is more badass than Alex”  
Chuck rolled his eyes “Whatever”  
“Just open the file”  
“Bryce was my best friend for four years, and even though he got me kicked out of Stanford and I hated him for so long, it’s still not easy to think that he is a bad person”  
“He did get you kicked out for a good reason”  
“But then he sent me the intersect anyways”  
“Yeah but now you’re on our team and not locked away somewhere being tested on”  
“Why are you sticking up for Bryce, at one point you hated him and killed him”  
“Not sticking up for him, just pointing out the facts, and looking at his file was your idea, so open it”  
“Catch me if I pass out”  
Chuck opened the file and started reading, it took a while but then it hit him like a ton of bricks, making his head throb so hard he threw up on the floor.  
“Hey, you okay?”  
“I uh, can you get me a water and call Beckman”  
Casey got him a glass of water and cleaned up the mess before calling the General  
“Is there a reason you two are calling me so late?”  
“You know who Orian is don’t you?”  
“Yes Mr. Bartowski”  
“Why didn’t you tell me?”  
“Can someone fill me in” Casey interrupted.  
“Orian is my dad” Chuck voiced cracked  
“You have gotta be shitting me”  
“How long has be been a spy”  
“He was never a spy, he has been an asset for the CIA working on anything we needed him for, he has been rouge for over ten years”  
“When he left me and Ellie”  
“Yes”  
“Why has no one told me?”  
“We didn’t want you to go after him yourself”  
“Well too late, I’ve been looking for him ever since Devon proposed”  
“You’ve what?”  
“I wanted him to know that Ellie is getting married and even though she probably is mad that he has not been in our lives, it would still be nice for him to at least know what is going on with his kids”  
“Knowing him and his technological skills, he knows exactly what is going on with both of you”  
“You must get your smarts from him” Casey added  
“But I’d never leave my family”  
“Send me everything you have”  
“What is going to happen if you guys get ahold of him?”  
“We want the same thing as you, Chuck, we want the intersect”  
“What will happen to me if I no longer have it”  
“If you are able to remove the intersect, and survive, not much will change, you are still part of this team”  
“What do you mean survive?”  
“We have no idea what will happen, that is why we need your father”  
“Talk to Bryce, that’s how I figured it out, I’ll email you everything else I have”  
“Thank you Chuck, and again, I am sorry” Beckman ended the call  
“Why didn’t you tell me?”  
“I didn’t want you to try and stop me”  
“I wouldn’t, I would have helped”  
“I really don’t want to talk about it right now, I feel like shit”  
“Let’s clean this all up and get some ice cream”

“Please don’t spend three hours picking the flavor and toppings”  
“Okay Mr. boring I get the same thing every time”  
“Because it’s good”  
Chuck handed Casey and empty cup “Oh look, no coffee flavor this time, is your world going to end”  
“Yes, I’m going to go cry” he deadpanned  
“What flavor are you going to get?’  
“Red velvet, see how easy that was”  
Chuck tied Arlo’s leash around his waist “Arlo heel”  
Casey walked in front of Chuck to look at the new flavors and even though they didn’t have his favorite they had a caramel frappe one, so he got that and his other favorite brownie batter and all his usual toppings, why change what works.  
“Hi Colonel”  
“Hi” he looked at her nametag “Kelsey”  
“How have you been?’  
“Not bad, and yourself?”  
“A little sad you didn’t call”  
“My daughter is older than you”  
She shrugged “Still wouldn’t mind a night of fun with you”  
“Arlo, tell your dad to hurry”  
Arlo tugged on the leash alerting Chuck to look at Casey.  
“Oh my god it’s been like ten seconds, give me a little longer”  
He turned his back to Kelsey and signed “She is flirting with me, help”  
Chuck rolled his eyes “Give me a minute”  
Casey stood there making small talk with the way too flirty cashier while Chuck spent way to much time picking topping.  
“You’re sleeping in your own bed tonight” Casey signed.  
After Casey paid, Chuck grabbed his hand and held it while they walked to a table, he set his cup down then grabbed the back of Casey’s head, his other hand gripping Casey’s ass and pulled him into a deep kiss.  
“That was a bit much”  
“Not done yet” Chuck grabbed the card with Kelsey number on and walked back up to the counter, “He doesn’t need this, so you can stop”  
Chuck sat down across from his boyfriend with a big smile on his face. “How many times is that now?”  
“Eight I think”  
“Maybe now she will take the hint”  
“We probably won’t get the sexy soldier discount anymore”  
Chuck laughed “Your face when you said that was amazing”  
“She is glaring at you”  
“Maybe we need to find a new froyo place”  
“It would have been fine if you didn’t grope me”  
“No regrets” Chuck smirked.  
“How is your head?”  
“Hurts less than my heart does, was that cheesy?”  
“No”  
“Why would he do that?”  
Casey shrugged  
“Can I be there when you drag Bryce in and interrogate him”  
“How about you try talking to him as a friend first, then go from there”  
“He has been hiding it from me all these years, why would he tell me now”  
“I’d love to torture the bastard, but now that he is back to being an agent, I can’t”  
“Wonder if my mom is an “agent” too”  
“Guess we will have to ask your dad if we ever find him”

“No”  
“You’re kidding right?”  
“Nope, I’m not going”  
“Your sister is going to come over and drag you out”  
“What's the point?”  
“You love Halloween”  
“I loved dressing up and having fun with Morgan, and today isn’t Halloween”  
“Today is the party, tomorrow you sit out on the porch and scare kids off with that grumpy face”  
“Since when do you care about Halloween, when is the last time you even dressed up?”  
“Free food and booze”  
“Ellie’s parties require costumes”  
“That is why I’m trying to get your ass out of bed and to the store”  
“Who buys costumes the day before”  
“The guy who hates Halloween and his boyfriend who has been too busy pouting”  
“I’ll only agree if we do a stupid couples costume”  
“What do you have in mind?”  
Chuck stared at him for a moment “Sexy firefighter with his dog and I don’t know what I’ll be, but I’m very turned on thinking about you in a fireman outfit with the front open showing off your muscles like those sexy calendars, maybe oil your chest”  
“No” Casey rolled his eyes “How about one that won’t give you a boner?”  
“That’s not fun” Chuck sat up “How about Captain America and Bucky”  
“What’s a Bucky?”  
“Oh my god, you uncultured swine”  
“That’s from Toy Story”  
“The fact that you know that and not who Bucky is makes my heart hurt”  
“I just watched it with Alex and the kid she was babysitting”  
“Why did no one send me pictures”  
“Can you please get dressed”  
“No”  
“You’re going to get arrested if you go to the store naked”  
“Or you could get naked and join me in the bed” Chuck wiggled his eyebrows and winked at him.  
“You think that Bartowski charm is going to work?”  
“Absolutely”  
They have been together for a month and one day and they have been trying their best to take things slow, but it was easier said than done, Casey doesn’t remember the last time he showered or slept alone, the first few weeks there was a lot of rutting together mostly clothed, last week they moved on to hand jobs and blow jobs and honestly they couldn’t get enough of each other.  
“Want me to call Ellie and tell her we won’t be coming to the party because we will be doing another kind of coming”  
Chuck laughed “No, but I do want to come”  
Casey wasn’t going to say no to that, he pulled his shirt off and tossed it on Chuck’s head.  
“Hey” he tossed it back to Casey  
“So I was thinking, maybe you should move your stuff in here and we can turn your room into something else”  
“Oh my, Colonel Casey are you asking me to move in with you?”  
Casey rolled his eyes “No, I changed my mind”  
“Hurry up, I want touch you” he reached out his hands “Gimme”  
Casey kicked off his pants and briefs and climbed into his bed, pushing Chuck back down as he laid down on top of him, holding his weight up on his hands by Chuck’s shoulders.  
“What do you want?”  
“Can you finger me”  
Casey growled, attacking Chuck’s neck with his mouth, he reached over, fumbling with bedside drawer trying to find the bottle of lube, but had no luck so he had to move over and look.  
“Look what I found” he held up the vibrating cock ring.  
“We should use it”  
“Maybe next time, it makes me come too fast”  
“How many times have you used it?”  
“I’ve gotten my monies worth”  
“I want to get mine”  
Casey moved so Chuck could get off the bed, he laid and watched the way Chuck’s ass moved as he quickly walked out of the room.  
When Chuck walked into the room he almost tripped at the sight of Casey laying on the bed lazily stroking himself. “Fuck”  
“I regret saying I thought your dick would be bigger because it still impresses me everytime”  
“You judged it when it was soft your weirdo”  
“Your weirdo” Chuck teasingly stuck his tongue out, he climbed onto the bed and knee walked over to Casey “Do you want to put this on me?” Chuck held out the leather strip.  
Chuck was glad that he and Casey have talked so much and he was really good at reading his lips so at times like this they didn’t have to sign.  
Casey stroked Chuck’s cock a few times before snapping the band around the base “I have a confession”  
“Can you sign it so I don’t miss a single word”  
Casey did “When we were at the store looking at these, I got hard imagining what it would look like on you, the dark leather” he ran his finger over it “against your pale skin”  
Chuck blushed “I may have also imagined you with yours, especially after you told me that you used it”  
“Lay down”  
Chuck laid on his back, Casey laid on his side next to him, he trailed his fingers down Chuck’s chest, Chuck turned slightly so he was able to kiss his boyfriend.  
Chuck gasped when Casey’s hand worked it way up and down his cock “So sensitive” he whispered.  
Casey popped the lube open and poured some on his finger “Ready?”  
“Hell yeah”

“I’m ready, so freaking ready John, please”  
Casey shoved his three fingers in deeper making Chuck moan before he pulled out. “Are you sure?”  
“Yes I’m sure, please put your dick in”  
Casey laughed “Yeah okay”  
“Wait, I didn’t even stop and ask if you are ready”  
“Yeah” Casey kissed his cheek “I’m nervous, but ready”  
“I didn’t know you could get nervous”  
“Shut up, what position?”  
“I’ve never bottomed but doggy style feels nice for the top” he shrugged before getting on his hands and knees and wiggling his ass towards Casey.  
Casey squeezed his cheeks pulling them apart to look at Chuck’s eager hole waiting for him.  
He lubed himself up before slowly pushed into his boyfriend, he was almost all the way in but stopped when he heard Chuck whimper. He tapped his on the shoulder, he waited until Chuck looked at him.  
“Okay?”  
Chuck shook his head no.  
Casey moved up next to Chuck “What’s wrong? You need to tell me, Chuck”  
“I can’t hear you, and my face is pressed into the pillow so I can’t see you, I’m sorry for crying, I just felt so I don’t know how to explain it and you were nervous already and I’m messing it all up, I wanted our first time to be special and I’m ruining it”  
“You’re not ruining anything, it’s still special” Casey wiped Chuck’s tears away “Want to continue?”  
“Yes, get that thing inside of me” they both laughed,  
Casey sat up the pillows against the headboard before leaning back against it.  
He pulled Chuck into his lap, grabbing his left hand and placing it on his throat. He moaned so Chuck could feel it. “You’re so sexy”  
“Not too bad yourself Bartowski”  
“I miss hearing you call my by my last name, it was so hot, your voice was so deep and so mmm”  
Casey hummed, making Chuck smile and his hand still rested against Casey’s throat. “Right, let’s get back to what we were doing”  
Casey helped line himself up with Chuck, he squeezed Casey’s shoulders as he lowered himself down, not sure what he was mumbling as he did it.  
“Holy shit” Casey groaned “Wow”  
“Did you say something?”  
“Amazing”  
“I agree”  
Casey gripped the back of Chuck’s head pulling him into a kiss.  
Chuck experimented moving his hips in different ways to see what felt the best, news flash, it all felt amazing, then he hit that magic spot.  
“Oh my god, oh my god, fuck”  
“Chuck” Casey growled “Stop”  
“Stop what?”  
“Clenching your ass so hard, I’m going to come”  
“I’ve hit my prostate with my fingers, and your fingers but it’s so much better with your dick” Chuck bounced up and down a few times “So so so much better”  
“I’m really fucking close, sorry”  
“Touch me please”  
Casey thumbed over the tip before sliding his hand down Chuck’s shaft.  
Their mouths open barely touching as Chuck moved between Casey’s hand and cock. 

“Chuck” Casey moved both hands to Chuck’s hips holding in place as his orgasm rushed over him. Chuck rushed to get the leather strip unsnapped “Fuck, get it off”  
Casey moved Chuck’s hands out of the way and flipped the snap with his thumb, tossing it to the side, it only took two stroked before Chuck was coving him in his release.  
“Holy fucking hell” Chuck winced when he moved to get Casey’s softening cock out of him. “Give me a minute, then we should shower” Chuck laid down on his back”  
“Was it okay?” Casey scooted down to lay next to him.  
“Seriously, you even have to ask?”  
“I’ve never got off that quick with someone else before”  
“How long it last doesn’t matter as long as we both get off”  
“Was nice”  
“Ten out of ten would do again” Chuck’s eyes started to close, Casey wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close, kissing his forehead they both fell asleep.

“Oh my god, gross”  
Casey woke up, “What”  
“We fell asleep”  
Casey pulled the blanket off of them and looked down at his chest “This is going to suck”  
“There is a puddle under me”  
“Your sleepy face made me sleepy”  
Chuck looked at the clock “We still have time to get to the store and head to Ellie’s party”  
“Let’s shower”

“I’m so glad you came” Ellie hugged her brother “Interesting costumes”  
“I had to drag him out of bed, we didn’t have anything else”  
“It’s really cute”  
“No one is going to get it” Chuck fiddled with Casey’s dog tags that were around his neck  
“I got it right away, seeing John is a Star Wars shirt was a big give away, and the shoes”  
“I got him those like two years ago as a joke since he always picked on me about them, he never wore them”  
“Alex just got here about five minutes ago, I’m sure she will be happy to see you, she didn’t think you guys were coming”  
“What is she dressed as?”  
“Princess Belle, the little boy she nannies for is here too, he is Beast, it’s really cute”  
Chuck and Casey walked through the courtyard hand in hand until they saw Alex in a beautiful yellow ball gown “You looked stunning Alex”  
“Thanks, Chuck, perks of being the nanny to a rich family where they will buy expensive costumes just to make the kid happy”  
“Hey nanny Alex, why are you moving your hands like that when you talk?”  
“Well my friend here is deaf, which means he can’t hear, so we use American sign language to communicate, he is also pretty good at reading lips too”  
“How do you say my name like that” Alex signed as the boy spoke to Chuck  
“Well I need to know your name first”  
“Bennett”  
“That is an easy one” Chuck kneeled down “First is a B so you hold your hand up like your going to high five me, okay now put all your fingers together and tuck your thumb in like this” Chuck did it “Now you just leave your thumb there and curl the tips of your fingers down to touch it, that's an E, now for the N you keep your hand the same but move your thumb up between your middle and ring finger” Chuck helped him move his fingers, then you do the E again” Chuck couldn’t help but smile at how cute it was “Now for the T, you do the N again but your thumb goes between the pointer and middle”  
“That is so cool”  
“I’m sure Alex would love to teach you more, she is a great teacher”  
“I will”  
“Are you a soldier Chuck?”  
“Nope, he is” he pointed to Casey “We dressed up as each other”  
“I no Mr. Casey, he is Alex’s dad, we watch movies together sometimes”  
“He told me you guys watched Toy Story, that’s a good movie and your beast costume is the coolest one I’ve ever seen”  
“Thank you”  
Chuck signed it after he said it and Bennett copied him  
“Awesome”  
“Well make sure you go play some of the games and win prizes”  
“Bye Chuck”  
“Bye”

“You look nice in camo” Casey grabbed Chuck around the waist  
“You look weird as a nerd, your arms are busting out of the sleeves”  
“It was the biggest size they had” he gave him a quick kiss “You are the one who made our shower last way longer than it should have and made us late”  
“Worth it” he smirked.  
“Something about seeing you in my old Marine shirt turns me on”  
“We should leave”  
“It’s been ten minutes, we are staying a bit longer, maybe play a game or two”  
“I’m just glad I can’t hear the karaoke”  
“It’s worse than you can imagine”  
“You know this is the first party my sister has thrown where she isn’t trying to set me up with every single nurse she has ever met”  
“Have you told her about Orian yet?”  
“Are you insane? No”  
“Maybe you should at least ask her how she feels about him coming back before you drop that surprise on her”  
“Let me talk to Bryce first”  
“He should land on the first”  
“Do you think Sarah and him will get back together?”  
“Not sure, don’t care”  
“Right, now go win me one of the candy apples with the sprinkles”

“Chuck”  
“Bryce”  
“Nice hickey”  
“Shut up”  
“Why did I have to leave Paris for this?” Sarah was sitting next to him signing everything  
“Because you’re a horrible person full of lies and I want to punch you in the face”  
“Good luck with that”  
“Start talking Larkin”  
“Now your boyfriend is going to talk for you”  
“Be glad you can’t hear him” Casey growled.  
“Tell me about my dad”  
“I’m not allowed”  
“Bryce, for once, think of someone else besides yourself”  
“You’re kidding right? It’s always about you, Chuck the golden boy, everything is about you”  
“I didn’t want any of this, the intersect has ruined my life and you sent it to me then faked your death”  
“Technically, your boyfriend killed me and someone else brought me back, not my fault”  
“Just tell me about my dad”  
“What do you need to know, you’ve obviously flashed on all the Stanford stuff”  
“Where is he”  
“How the hell am I supposed to know?”  
“He trusts you”  
“What’s your point, I haven’t seen him in years”  
“I want you to contact him and tell him I need to talk to him”  
“I can try, but he is deep in hiding, it may take weeks”  
“You have until Thanksgiving”  
“Am I invited to dinner at Casa Casey-Bartowski?”  
“If you can get my dad there, then yes”  
“Did you ever stop and think he left for a reason?”  
“I’m sure he did, but he has to know you sent me the intersect so I thought he would at least try and contact me about it”  
“I’ll see what I can do Chuck, but I can’t force him to see you if he doesn’t want to”  
“Obviously, but I just need to talk to him, please Bryce, I know you were my friend because it was your job, but if even an ounce of it was real you would help me with this”  
“It wasn’t all fake”  
Chuck wasn’t sure if Sarah or Casey knew every detail of the relation between him and Bryce, but now wasn’t really the time to talk about it.  
“Okay, um, just let me know” Chuck got up and walked away.  
It took Casey ten minutes to find him. He was sitting in the back corner of one of the holding cells  
“Hi”  
“You want to talk about it?” Chuck  
“I’m sure you can guess”  
“That you and Bryce were more than just roommates”  
Chuck nodded.  
“I assumed”  
“I should have told you”  
“Not if you didn’t want to”  
“I loved him, he was my first and only boyfriend, and we were together for over a year and then he got me kicked out of Stanford and it fucking broke my heart, then I find out he was a spy the entire time and I was just a mission and that hurt even worse” Chuck really didn’t want to cry “Then I found out he was dead and it was almost like a relief and I hate saying that but it's how I felt, then I had this fake relationship with Sarah just to have Bryce come back and find out they were a thing and seeing them together was hard, but I got over him and hearing him say it wasn’t all fake was overwhelming”  
“Want me to leave you alone?”  
“That’s the last thing I want”  
“Want me to take you home and fuck you so hard you forget everything?”  
Chuck laughed “I’d like that”

“Any news?”  
“Stop asking, it’s only been ten days”  
“You act like you are inconvenienced not having a kitchen, but you are secretly loving using this grill every night”  
“You’re not wrong”  
“What are you making?’  
“Steak, baked potatoes, corn on the cob and risotto”  
“Damn is there something special I don’t know about?”  
“No, just felt like having a good meal, and now that you are back to getting a paycheck our grocery budget can include steak once a week”  
“Okay Mr. I have money don’t worry about anything”  
“How about a late-night swim after we eat?”  
“Yes, I’ve been dying to use that new pool float Alex got up”  
“You mean the giant unicorn that is almost the size of the pool?’  
“Yes, it’s amazing”  
Casey bent over to grab the lighter out of the bottom drawer and Chuck pinched his ass making him jump and hit his head on the counter.  
“Fuck” he growled rubbing his head  
“Oh my god are you okay” Chuck grabbed his head looking to see if he was bleeding. “I’m so sorry”  
“Hey it’s okay, stop freaking out”  
“I just”  
“Stop” Casey hissed when Chuck touched his head “Just get me and ice pack please”

When Chuck came back out with the ice pack his eyes were filled with tears just waiting to fall.  
“Come here” Casey pulled him into his arms  
“I’m so sorry”  
Casey stepped back “Stop apologizing, just go light the tiki torches around the yard then light the candles on the table please, I’ll be okay”  
“I was trying to be cute but it went wrong”  
“Go” he put the lighter in Chuck’s hand and pushed him towards the yard so he could finish dinner.

Chuck was sitting at the table playing a game on his phone when Casey carried over their plates, “Are you watching porn?”  
“Oh my god no, why would I be watching porn?”  
“Your phone is moaning, loudly”  
Chuck’s face was read as he frantically pushed his volume down button, he looked up to see Casey laughing  
“You suck”  
“You know I do” he winked.  
“I was so confused at what could be making that noise”  
“I could change your ringtone to moaning and then call you when we are in public and you would never know”  
“Wow asshole”  
“I’d never do that”  
“Not sure I believe you, how is your head?”  
“I’m not concussed, I’ll survive, no need to cry”  
“You know I’m super emotional and always on the verge of crying, I can’t help it”

Casey sat back on the lounge chair, spreading his legs so Chuck could sit between them, Chuck rested his back against Casey’s chest, they didn’t like not being able to talk, but they also loved sitting here and looking up at the stars, well what stars they could see in the polluted California sky.  
Casey wrapped his arm around Chuck, sticking up his pointer and pinky finger and tucking the other two down and his thumb out, he placed it against Chuck’s chest.  
“John” Chuck voice barely a whisper as he moved his hand up to feel along Casey’s hand just to make sure he was feeling what he thought he was, he turned around quickly, almost tipping the chair over “Are you serious” he cupped Casey’s face in his hands.  
“Of course”  
“Say it, I wast to see your mouth say it”  
“I love you Chuck Bartowski”  
Chuck was glad he couldn’t hear the sound he just made, he was sure it was embarrassing “I love you too, and I’m pretty sure I’ve been falling in love with you for years”  
“I have a few confessions”  
“Is this like cock ring confessions or something else”  
“Never say cock ring confessions again” Casey laughed “When you were dating whats her face, I was upset, that’s why I stayed with Alex”  
“Oh my god, you were jealous”  
“Shut up”  
“That’s really cute, and honestly, you are one of the reasons I broke up with her”  
“Tonight is not the first time I said I love you to you”  
“No way”  
“It was at the cabin, you fell asleep on me, it just came out”  
“Oh my god, you are so sweet”  
“Don’t tell anyone”  
“I made you a big ol gushy gay man”  
“Don’t ever say that again”  
“Want to hear the story of my bisexual awakening?”  
“Yes”  
“It was our sophomore year of high school, Morgan invited me to this party, he insisted we go to this party, he was so in love with the popular girl Hanna, she was a major bitch and I have no idea why he liked her, but he begged me to play spin the bottle and he spun it and it landed on me, he tried to spin again but they didn’t let him, we both panicked after the kiss, him because he kissed me and hated it, me because I realized I liked kissing a boy” Chuck put his hand on Casey’s throat to feel his laugh. “He thought I was in love with him and was scared to spend the night at my house for like a month, then I told him in no way was I interested in him, it’s just kissing him brought out what I already knew in the back of my head”  
"So Morgan was your first kiss?"  
"Yup"  
"That explains so much about you two"  
"What the hell does that mean?"  
Casey shrugged "You two were always oddly close"  
"I miss him"  
"Oddly enough, I do too"  
"Look at you being sweet again"  
“I’ve never once looked at a man and thought damn I want to kiss him, still not even sure I’m into guys, just you”  
“That’s sweet, I think”  
“Isn’t this the part where we kiss”  
“Yes it is”

“Casey, calm down, I’ve never seen you like this, and I want to laugh but I’m also concerned”  
“This kitchen is a fucking mess and everyone will be here in an hour”  
“It’s okay, they know our kitchen is being remodeled, they didn’t expect the drywall to be rotten behind where the dishwasher was, or that the bathroom would be way harder to demo, it will be fine I promise”  
“Since when are you the calm one in this relationship?”

“Chuck”  
“Bryce”  
“We need to talk” Bryce looked around the living room “Alone”  
“Someone needs to translate unless I can’t read your lips”  
“I think it should be John, you’re going to need him”  
“Oh, um yeah, follow me” Chuck walked into the kitchen where Casey was cooking with Ellie, “Hey Casey, can we borrow you for a minute?”  
“Yeah, what’s going on?”  
“Let’s go into the office, it’s soundproof”  
“Well isn’t that convenient”  
“Yeah, no one can hear me kick your ass Larkin”

“Chuck we found your dad”  
“I thought the deal was to bring him here”  
“Shaw killed him”  
“You’re lying”  
“I’m not, I swear”  
Casey held him back from hitting Bryce "I can’t fucking trust anything you say” Chuck yelled “You are a fucking horrible person and you have done nothing but hurt me”  
“I’m not lying, and I never meant to hurt you”  
“How do you know it was Shaw?’ Casey held Chuck tightly in his arms  
Bryce pulled a flash drive out of his pocket “It’s all here, but I don’t think Chuck should watch it, ever, it’s graphic”  
“What do I tell Ellie” Chuck cried into Casey's chest, Casey just rubbed his back, not sure what to do or say.  
“I’m sorry John, I would have been here if I knew how bad this was going to get with Shaw, I could have warned Stephen”  
“There is nothing you could have done, Shaw was a tricky son of a bitch”  
“The video was taken the day before he was killed, we think that he was going to show this video to Chuck, I swear John, I had no idea. But whatever you do, don’t let Chuck see that, it will ruin him”  
“You know how much he loved and admired you, Larkin?”  
“Yeah, and now he loves and admires you, so don’t let him down like I did”  
“Wasn’t planning on it”  
“I should go”  
Casey pulled Chuck away from his chest “Do you want Bryce to stay and eat?”  
Chuck nodded yes. “I need all the support I can get right now” He grabbed a tissue off the desk and wiped his face. “Does Sarah know?”  
“No, only Beckman and the team that found him”  
“Where is his body?”  
“Beckman said she will get you the ashes if you want”  
“Ashes, so there is no body, that means he could still be alive?”  
“No Chuck, trust me”  
“How the hell can you even say that to me”  
“I’m serious, I’ve never lied to you, not once, hidden things, sure, manipulated the truth a little probably, but flat out lie, never”  
There was a knock at the door, Casey opened it just enough to see who was there, “Alex”  
“Dinner is ready, Ellie wants to know how long you guys will be”  
“We will be right out” Casey shut the door pressing his back against it, he ran a hand over his face, all he wanted to do was hold Chuck as he cried, kiss him and tell him everything will be okay, but it seems like no matter how hard he tries to protect Chuck, the hits keep coming.  
“The good news is, your mom is still alive”  
“Don’t fuck with me Bryce”  
“She was suspected to be a rogue agent named Frost”  
Casey barely caught Chuck before he collapsed, “Grab the trash can”  
Bryce got it over to him before Chuck started throwing up.  
“What the hell is happening”  
“Ever since the bomb if he flashes on something huge, it makes his head throb so hard he throws up, sometimes passes out”  
“Maybe I should have saved that info for later”  
“Just go get some water”

“Everyone is worried” Bryce handed Chuck the water.  
“That was a lot”  
“Yeah, well we believe that she is not rogue and she has just been captured this entire time, I’ll save his name information for later, don’t want to see that again”  
“Yeah, we should have a meeting tomorrow, we need to stop this conversation right now”  
“Is she alive?”  
“Yes, Beckman has an agent going undercover to confirm, but there is no proof that she isn’t”  
“I’ll take this to the bathroom and clean it and myself, then I’ll join everyone for dinner”  
“I can help”  
“No, I need a minute”  
Casey kissed his cheek, signing i love you and pressing it into Chuck’s hand.  
“You too” Chuck whispered.  
"Give us a minute" Casey looked up at Bryce "Tell them Chuck got sick and we will be out soon" Casey stood up pulling Chuck with him "We can just throw the trash can away and buy a new one, let's get you cleaned up"  
"We will have to walk by everyone to go upstairs"  
"It's fine"  
Casey shielded him from everyone as they made their way up the stairs and into the bathroom in Chuck's room.  
"What did I do to deserve this?"  
"You didn't do anything, sometimes life just sucks"  
"First I lost my hearing, which completely changed my life, then I lost my best friend, now my dad"  
"Hold on, someone is at the door for you" Casey opened the door to let Arlo in, he ran right over to Chuck and rubbed his head against Chuck's leg. "Hey buddy, can you tell I'm sad"  
"He was whining and scratching at the door, he can tell"  
"How can I face Ellie, I can't tell her and ruin Thanksgiving"  
"Let me talk to her"  
"John we can't"  
"You can't hide this from her"  
"He is already out of our lives, why can't we just go with that"  
"Because that's fucked up"  
"Why do you care?"  
Casey just shook his head and walked out of the room.

"Is everything okay John?"  
"No, go up to his bedroom and talk to him, it's about your dad"  
Ellie quickly made her way up the stairs  
"What's going on?" Sarah grabbed his arm  
Casey glared at her hand on his bicep "Shaw kills his dad, his mom is either being held by a bad guy or is working with the bad guy and his best friend is dead, oh and he had a bomb blow up in his face and he lost his hearing"  
"Are you serious?"  
"Why the fuck would I lie Walker?"  
"What are they doing about his mom?"  
"Not sure, he flashed on her code name and got sick, talk to Bryce, I'm going on a walk"  
"What about dinner?"  
"I don't care right now"  
"Dad, can I come with you?"  
"Sure" 

Casey and Alex walked around the block a few times before heading back into the house when they came in, Sarah was gone, Devon and Bryce were on the couch with a plates full of food watching football while Ellie and Chuck sat at the table.  
“Can we join you?”  
“Of course John”  
Chuck wouldn’t look at him.  
“I’m sorry Ellie” Alex put her hand on Ellie’s shoulder  
“We aren’t going to talk about it okay”  
Chuck jumped when Casey put his hand on his thigh.  
“Sorry” Chuck looked up at him finally, “I was in my own little world”  
“How is the turkey?”  
Chuck cracked a small smile at the sign for turkey “Turkey will never not be fun to sign, and yeah it’s really good”  
“I’ve spent days and hundreds of dollars on trying to cook the perfect turkey and you throw yours on the grill and it’s perfect”  
“That was always Morgan’s favorite part, he loved all those damn turkeys” Chuck squeezed Casey’s hand  
“I remember my first Thanksgiving here, I found him ass up in a trash can trying to get a turkey”  
“Remember that time he tried to make mashed potatoes, they were like sand with butter” Ellie took a bite of the fluffy potatoes on her plate “Chuck’s yours are amazing”  
“He was so obsessed with your cooking” Alex smiled “He always compared everything I made to either your cooking or my dads”  
“He would have passed out from excitement over this spread” Chuck handed Arlo a piece of turkey  
Casey held up his wine glass, “To Grimes, our lives are a lot more boring without him here”  
They all clinked their glasses and took a drink.

“Go away, I’m so tired, please let me sleep in”  
Alex poked him again.  
“I will give you a blow job later if you leave me alone”  
Alex scrunched her nose in disgust, then shook Chuck until he rolled over and looked at her.  
“Oh god, you’re not Casey”  
“I’m not, and I’ll pass on the blow job” she teased.  
“I am so sorry”  
“It’s okay, he isn’t home, he went into Castle”  
“What’s going on?”  
“He didn’t say” She got up and grabbed a tray off the dresser and brought it over to the bed, Chuck sat up so she could set it on his lap.  
“Coffee, orange juice, and Morgan’s famous after Thanksgiving leftover sandwich/  
“You’re kidding, I was going to try and recreate this later”  
“I did the best I could, I hope it is even half as good as his”  
“Thank you, Alex, and again, sorry about earlier”  
“It’s okay, I have to get to work, dad said let him know if you need anything”  
“Tell Bennett I said hi”  
“I will, and I was thinking maybe sometimes next week you and Arlo can come hang out, he has been wanting to show you the ASL he is learning”  
“That makes me happy”  
“I’m sorry about your dad Chuck, but last night was really nice, and if you ever want to talk about Morgan, I’m here. I know my loss isn’t the same because I only knew him for two years, but he was a big part of my life and I really loved him”  
“Thanks Alex”

A few hours later Chuck was on his computer looking up some online classes he was thinking about taking when Casey’s face popped up, Chuck clicked on the green phone icon.  
“Hows it going?”  
“We are getting close to something, what are you up to?”  
“Looking up online classes, thinking of taking some more classes, not sure though, just need something to keep my mind busy”  
“I’ll support whatever you decide”  
“Of course you will because you are too fucking perfect and good to me”  
“Alex said I needed to talk to you about what happened earlier”  
“Oh I’d rather not”  
“By the blush on your face, I can tell it’s good”  
“I thought it was you waking me up and I promised a blow job if you let me sleep in” Chuck could tell Casey was laughing. “Stop laughing, it was embarassing”  
“She probably would have been better not knowing that her dad is getting blow jobs”  
“Okay, new subject, please”  
“Sarah went undercover, she just left, we think she can bring your mom home”  
“What if she is a bad guy”  
“We don’t think so”  
“I will come in if I need to, even though flashing is a guessing game if I’ll pass out or not”  
“Your dad left you something Chuck”  
“Oh”  
“Beckman had their top tech guy look at it, he was a step under your father, they think it will help with the flashing”  
“How?”  
“I have no idea, there is a letter, and it says the watch is for you and you need to wear it”  
“Should I come in?”  
“I’ll bring it home, figured you would rather it be just us”  
“Yeah, that’s a good idea, should you also bring home a file so we can test it?”  
“I have one we really need more information about”  
“When will you be home?”  
“Probably another hour or two”  
“I figure we will have leftovers for dinner”  
“And for the next week”  
“Text me when you’re on the way home, love you”  
“Love you Bartowski”

“Who is Alexei Volkoff?”  
“The man your mother is with, but don’t open the file until you put the watch on”  
“I don’t understand how a watch will help”  
Casey shrugged, maybe you can talk to the tech team”  
“Funny you say that, I called Beckman after I talked to you, told her I want to take some classes and do something with tech, like combining what I did at the Buy More with what I did for the CIA and she thought it was a great idea and got me in contact with someone and see what classes I need to take and I can work from home or Castle and I may need to fly to Washington D.C. a few times but I’m excited”  
“That sounds perfect”  
“I don’t know if it's because my dad has already been out of my life for so long that him actually being gone has not effected me as bad as I thought, but it also has made me want to explore these options of doing tech stuff”  
“Just promise me you won’t bottle stuff up”  
“I promise, and I also promise that I’ll never say mean things to you when you are trying to help me”  
“Lucky for you I’m an asshole and don’t take that shit to heart”  
“I shouldn’t have said it”  
“Put the damn watch on kid”  
“You haven’t called me that in a few years” Chuck looked the watch over, “Holy shit, this watch is amazing”  
“Did you flash on it?”  
“Yeah, its technology I didn’t even know existed”  
“Beckman said it was special, and not to let it out of your sight”  
Chuck ran his fingers over his initials engraved in the back “We were really close you know, before he left, he was my best friend, and he always talked about how much fun we would have when I got older and I had science fairs and robotics” Chuck put the watch on his wrist and held it out to have Casey latch it.  
Casey grabbed his hand, lifting it up to his mouth, he kissed the palm of his hand before latching the watch.  
“So before we look at this file, can we do naughty thing?”  
“What did you have in mind Bartowski?”  
“Well, I’d start by blowing you while I opened myself up, then I’d ride you right there in your office chair”  
Casey growled “I like that idea, I really like that idea”

Casey collapsed on the bed, trying to catch his breath.  
“Holy hell, that was a lot more insane than I originally planned” he rolled over so he could see if Casey wanted to respond.  
“You started it in the office”  
“You started the second round in the shower”  
“We both kind of started those last two rounds” Casey took a deep breath “I’m way too fucking old for this”  
“Yeah you’re so close to fifty”  
“I’m only forty four jackass”  
Chuck laughed harder than he has in awhile, and it made Casey’s heart happy, “How about we go clean up separately and go to bed, we can look at the file tomorrow”  
“Then we are putting up our Christmas decorations”  
“It won’t be December until Tuesday, today is Friday”  
“Don’t care, I usually do it the day after Thanksgiving, but I wanted to do it with you and you were out all day”  
“Do we even have anything?”  
“We have a few things, but I planned on going shopping today then I realized all the crazy’s were out shopping”  
“We will figure it out tomorrow” Casey pulled Chuck into a kiss.

“The house looks amazing, well besides the mess of a kitchen”  
“It’s almost done, he said by the fifteenth at the latest”  
“Just remind them of the mistletoe, don’t want one of them having to kiss us” Chuck joked  
“Stop procrastinating”  
“Fine” Chuck picked up the file they abandoned on the desk the night before.  
Chuck opened up and started reading, tons of images flashed in front of him “Holy hell, he is not a good guy, and you’re not gonna like it”  
“Russians” he growled  
“Yup, he is the head of Volkoff Industries, him and my mom, Frost is a couple”  
“A couple?”  
“She seems to be his right hand”  
“We need to email everything to Walker and Beckman as soon as possible, just type out as much as you can”  
“Got it” he looked down at his watch “Thanks dad” he whispered.  
“Why the hell does it have to be Russians”  
“Don’t act like you aren’t excited to kick some Russian ass”  
“I should probably go clean my desert eagle”  
Chuck laughed “You go do that, I’ll send the email, then we can hike the canyon”  
“Am I losing my hearing, did you say hike?”  
“Shut up, you know running and hiking clears my head”  
“Let me know when you are ready” Casey kissed Chuck before leaving their office.

“Hey Alex” Chuck gave her a questioning look  
“You need to pack a bag”  
“What am I packing?”  
“Comfy clothes for you and John, toiletries for both of you”  
“What about Arlo?”  
“Pack stuff for him too”  
“How long”  
“A few days worth, but just like sweatpants and stuff”  
“What are you hiding?”  
“I’ll let you know after you pack”  
Chuck told Alex where to get Arlo’s travel bowls and how much food to grab while he ran upstairs and packed a bag. When he came down Alex was waiting by the door with Arlo sitting next to her already with his vest on.  
“Can you tell me now”  
“Let’s get in the car”  
“Alex whats wrong?”  
“Nothing is wrong, but we need to hurry”

“I know something happened, Casey was supposed to meet up with Sarah last night and I haven’t heard from him and now you are here picking me up and not telling me what’s going on”  
“There was an accident”  
“Is he alive?”  
“Yeah, and he will be fine”  
“But”  
“He is fine Chuck, I promise”  
Chuck closed his eyes and kept them closed until they got to the hospital. When he walked in Ellie pulled him into a hug.  
“Just take me to him, please”  
Ellie linked her arm around Chuck’s arm and headed towards the elevator.  
Chuck’s hand shook as he grabbed the handle, he took a few deep breaths trying to calm himsef before he walked in, not knowing what he was going to see, he wasn’t sure how much more pain he could take.  
“Mom”  
“Hi Charles”  
He looked over to see Casey laying in the bed with an oxygen tube under his nose and a few IVs in his arms.  
“What did you do to him?”  
“It wasn’t her”  
Chuck jumped when Sarah came out of the bathroom “Did you say something?”  
“It wasn’t her” Sarah signed, “It was his idea, we needed a distraction”  
“What happened”  
“We faked a fight so Bryce would get your mom out of there safe and Volkoff was about to shoot Casey so he told me to kick him down the stairs, he said he knew how to land right, but something went wrong and he hit his head, he has some stitches but the doctor said it looked worse than it was”  
“Can I have some time alone with him”  
“He will be okay”  
“Stop saying that” Chuck yelled, he thinks he did, sometimes he still had trouble telling how loud he was. “The man I love is laying in a hospital bed, and it’s not okay, weather he is okay or not, it still fucking hurts, because you know the last time I was in a hospital and someone was laying in the bed not moving it was the last time I saw my best friend, so it’s not okay, and I need everyone to leave”  
Chuck waited until everyone was out of the room before crawling into the bed, he wasn’t sure where Casey was hurt so he was careful not to touch him too much, he laid on his side, his head on the pillow, he gently laid his arm over Casey’s chest and cried himself to sleep with Arlo curled up at their feet.

He was jolted awake when he felt movement.  
“John” He rubbed his eyes looking over at his boyfriend  
“Hey Chuck”  
“Don’t hey Chuck me asshole” CHuck sat up and stretched. “And I swear if you say you are fine I’m punching you in the nose”  
“That’s not very nice”  
“Don’t get me started”  
“Is your mom okay”  
“Honestly, I would rather her still be gone and have you not in the hospital”  
“Chuck don’t say that”  
“Why not? She left twenty years ago, twenty, that’s most of my life, I don’t care what her reasoning was, she wasnt here, you are the only consistent thing in my life, you are the person I love more than anyone except Ellie, so yeah, I’d rather you be not hurt, what if it was something worse, what if I lost you? John I can’t take anymore pain, I can’t” the last two words came out broken as he began to cry.  
“Sorry”  
Chuck texted Ellie to let her know Casey was awake “When Alex showed up and told me to pack and wouldn’t tell me what was going on, I thought you were gone”  
“I’m too stubborn to die”  
“If you die I’ll find a way to bring you back so I can kick your ass”  
“I didn’t mean to hurt you Bartowski, I wasn’t thinking of me at that moment, all I was thinking about was getting your mom back to you and Ellie”  
“Well now you know that it was a stupid idea, next time you kick Bryce down the stairs and Sarah saves my mom”  
“Damn, that was such a better idea” he smirked.  
Chuck turned around when he saw Casey look at the door, “Hi Ellie”  
“How are you feeling John?”  
“Like I fell down some stairs”  
“Not funny” Chuck glared at him  
Ellie came over and removed the oxygen tube from around his face “If you feel like you need it, just let me or a nurse know” She checked a few more things and then looked at the wound on the back of his head “You have three staples, and if you want Chuck can help you wash your hair to get the blood out, but other than that you should be going home tomorrow, they want to keep you monitored over night because it’s a head injury”  
“Thank Ell”  
“Devon is headed home, want him to take Arlo with him? He will probably take him on a walk and you can pick him up whenever”  
“Yeah, that will be fine”  
Chuck gave his sister a hug then gave Arlo one before they left.

“Want to help me shower?” Casey winked at him  
“No, blood makes me queasy”  
“I can wash my own hair, but I may need help with other parts of my body though”  
“We are not having sex in a hospital shower”  
“How about a hospital bed?”  
“You’re kidding right?”  
“I never kid about sex”  
Chuck sent Ellie a text asking her to put a do not disturb on the room because Casey was really tired and neither of them wanted to deal with talking to friends and family at the moment.  
Chuck helped Casey out of bed and lead him into the bathroom “That shower is too small for two people, I’m going to sit here and make sure you are okay while you shower”

Chuck grabbed the lube from Casey’s toiletry bag, he didn’t pack it, Casey just always kept it in there. He stripped down to his boxer and folded his clothes nicely on the chair, then went over and laid down in the bed, he felt weird being almost naked in a hospital bed, and he knew this was probably a bad idea, but right now he just wanted to be with Casey, feel that connection that was just theirs.  
When Casey came out of the bathroom Chuck couldn’t help but stare at the blue and purple bruises all over Casey’s chest, and they were probably all over his back too.  
“Are you sure Casey?”  
“Of course, why do you ask?”  
“Because you look sore”  
Casey shrugged, “Guess you’ll have to make me forget about it”  
Chuck slid his boxer off and tossed them at Casey’s head. “I’m just glad your hands are okay, I’d be sad if you couldn’t sign”  
“Stop being negative” Casey crawled into bed, holding himself above Chuck, pushing his hips down to meet Chuck’s. He growled against Chuck’s neck, smiling at the shiver he felt go through Chuck’s body.


	3. Chapter 3

“I got you an early gift” Casey handed Chuck a very neatly wrapped box in Christmas Star Wars paper with a huge bow.  
"You just got out of the hospital yesterday. why are you giving me a gift?"  
"I was going to give it to you sooner but we have been so busy, trust me, you need it now"  
“Happy December ninth I guess?” he looked at the box “I really like the paper, you did good, such a perfectionist”  
Casey smiled “That military precision came in handy”  
“Are you sure you want me to open it now?”  
Casey nodded.  
Chuck was very careful with the paper, he took the bow off and stuck it to Casey’s head, hoping it would stay there long enough so he could take a picture after he opened his gift.  
“What kind of joke is this?”  
“Read the box before you get your panties in a bunch”  
Chuck pulled the rest of the paper off, looking over the box “Headphones for the deaf?”  
“I’m not sure if they will work, we can return them and get you whatever you want if they don’t” Casey grabbed Chuck’s phone and logged into his Spotify account “I made you a playlist of every song I could think of that has a lot of bass and there is also a Christmas one. I paid for the premium account so you can do whatever”  
Chuck got up and hugged him, “You’re amazing, I can’t believe, holy crap, I told you about the Christmas music thing so long ago, and you remembered”  
Casey kissed his cheek since Chuck was still wrapped around him.  
“I’ll never be able to top this”  
“That’s not what is about, you don't need to get me anything at all, I'm not a materialistic person"  
"Too late, I already ordered you something" Chuck ran his hand down Casey's chest.  
"Let's check out the headphones, I'm curious to how they work and if you like them" Casey pulled out his pocket knife to cut the package open, "Let me"  
Chuck got up and turned on their Christmas tree lights and the string of lights around their living room then closed all the curtains and turned off the lights.  
"What are you doing?"  
"I'll show you in a minute" Chuck loaded up the Christmas music playlist and plugged in the headphones, then grabbed Casey's hand and lead him over to the Christmas tree, "Lay down"  
Casey waited to see exactly what Chuck was doing before he laid down too, Chuck moved until his head was under the tree, he had a big smile on his face when he turned to see his boyfriend next to him.  
"Amazing" Casey signed, he had never done this before, but it was really cool.  
Chuck closed his eyes and put the headphones in place on the side of his head, he took a deep breath, "Can you press play for me? For some reason I'm nervous"  
Casey grabbed Chuck's phone and clicked on Jingle Bells, he set the phone and his chest and linked his finger's with Chuck's. He looked over to see a tear running down the side of Chuck's face.  
"It's not working" Chuck slowly slide them off  
"I'm sorry"  
"It's okay, I wasn't expecting much, my ears are pretty damaged"  
"I really thought it would work" Casey rolled on to his side, grabbing Chuck's other hand and pulling him onto his side, he put his hand on his throat and started humming Jingle Bells,  
"You're amazing you know that" Chuck kissed him. Thankfully they didn’t knock the tree over when the kissing got a bit more heated.

Chuck: Are you busy?

Alex: No, I'm off today, do you need something?

Chuck: Can you come pick me up at the shelter?

Alex: Of course, I’ll be there in twenty

Chuck was half excited and half nervous pacing around the room he was in.  
“Sit down before you stress out the puppy”  
“What if this is a horrible idea?”  
“Come sit next to me” Casey patted the tile floor.  
“What if Arlo hates him too and my idea of playdates goes all to hell”  
“Shut up”  
“Fine” Chuck pulled the puppy off of Casey’s lap. “Hi little buddy”  
“Buddy is a horrible dog name”  
“That’s not his name, I have a good one picked, I just want to talk to Alex, but also if she doesn’t want to adopt him then there is no reason to name him, his shelter name is Huckleberry”  
“Huckleberry?”  
Chuck shrugged “Not my job, I did get to name a litter of cats after Star Wars characters once”  
“I remember, you blew my phone up with pictures”  
There was a knock on the door and one of Chuck’s coworkers walked in followed by Alex.  
“Dad?”  
“Alex” Casey stood up and hugged her.  
“What’s going on?”  
“Chuck had an idea, I’m here for moral support”  
“I know Christmas is a little over a week away, but I’ve been working on this for a while” Chuck stood up, still holding the puppy “After Morgan passed away I was talking to your dad about possibly getting you a puppy for company, obviously he won’t replace Morgan but I just, I don’t know what else to say” Alex had tears in her eyes when she grabbed the puppy and held him against her chest.  
“He is so cute, look at his ears”  
“He is a beagle, him and his four siblings were brought in with their mom a few weeks ago, he is 9 weeks old, and if you adopt him you get one free grooming a month for a year, and when he is six months old you can bring him back to get fixed and all his shots and everything”  
“We will be paying the adoption fee, as a Christmas gift, but don’t feel obligated to get him, we wanted to ask first” Casey added.  
“Yeah, I’d love to adopt him, I’ve honestly been thinking about it ever since you guys got Arlo”  
“Well I have a name idea, it’s okay if you don’t like it, but I think it’s better than Huckleberry”  
Alex made a face “I don’t like that”  
“I was thinking Moe, it would be like a small tribute to Morgan without having to say his first or last name and making us sad, but Morgan starts with m-o and his middle name is Guillermo, which ends with m-o so I came up with Moe”  
“I love it” Alex gave him a one-armed hug.  
“We got you a gift card to the pet store too” Casey handed her the card,  
“This is too much guys”  
“You deserve, you are an amazing person”  
“Thanks, Chuck”  
Chuck petted the puppies head “Hey Moe, I know we have been having fun together for a few weeks but this is your new mommy and she is going to take really good care of you, and your floppy ears”

"I want Chuck to open his first if that's okay" Alex picked up the biggest box by the tree  
Everyone nodded as she walked it over to where he was sitting next to Casey on the couch, glad that he talked Casey into getting this massive couch that they could all fit on it and have room to grow.  
Alex sat the box down in front of him then handed him a small packet of tissues "Just in case"  
"Oh great," he sat the tissues down on Casey's thigh so he could grab one if he needed.  
He didn't like that everyone was staring at him so he quickly tore the paper off to reveal the cardboard box inside. "Oh it's the pots and pans we already have" he teased knowing Alex took the box telling them she needed it for something, now Chuck knows what that something was.  
He pulled off the strip of tape over the flaps, and the second he saw what was inside a tear fell down his cheek. He stood up pulling the blanket with him so everyone could see, it was a quilt made of Morgan's nerdy t-shirts, he gave it a once over then clutched it close to his chest, taking a few deep breaths to stop himself from completely breaking down.  
"Thank you so much Alex" he walked over to her, she stood up and hugged him, with the blanket between them.  
Chuck held it up again so everyone could see, and that's when he noticed the back was a Star Wars fabric "This is going to stay right here" he folded it in half and draped it over the back of the couch.  
"Our gift to Alex was Moe over there" Chuck pointed to the puppy looking extra tiny laying in Arlo's giant bed. "I guess the next person is Ellie and Awesome, all three of us went in on this together" Chuck grabbed a box from under the tree and handed it to Ellie.  
Being the absolutely cute couple that they are, they opened it together, Ellie gasped with excitement when she opened the box to see the figurines.  
"No one has seen your dress yet, so I just had her do a classic wedding dress design, I hope that's okay"  
"It's perfect Chuck, they look just like us" Ellie pulled out the other one and handed it to Devon  
"Dude these are awesome"  
"There is also her contact information, we already paid for some other stuff but we told her you would contact her at the first of the year and personalize it how you want"  
"Thank you guys, it's wonderful"  
"There is more" Casey pointed to the envelope taped to the side of the box.  
Devon pulled it off and opened it up "Guys, come on, this is too much"  
Ellie leaned over to look at it "A week in Hawaii for our honeymoon? Are you serious?"  
"You two deserve it"  
Chuck looked up at the flashing ceiling light "Who is here?"  
"I'll get it" Casey got up and went to the door.  
Chuck was shocked when his mother walked in, he hadn't seen her much since her rescue, but he knew Ellie had been hanging out with her a lot.  
"Hope you don't mind" Ellie squeezed his hand  
"Um no, it's fine"  
"Am I late?"  
"No mom, of course not, we were just passing out gift" Ellie hugged her.  
"Sorry we didn't know you were coming, we didn't get you anything" Chuck got up and gave her a hug  
"I don't need anything, just being here with you two is more than enough"  
Chuck hugged her, "Well the only thing left is my gift to Casey and Ellie and Devon's gift for me and Casey, hopefully, it's worth the grumpy John I've had to deal with the last few nights because we had to sleep in the guest bedroom"  
"I think you two will like it if everyone would follow me up to what used to be Casey's room but is now both their rooms"

Ellie covered Chuck's eyes while Devon covered Casey's.  
"And open" Ellie tapped on Chuck's forehead to let him know he could look.  
"Holy shit this is so cool" Chuck looked around at the completely made-over room, before it had been simple white walls, generic bedroom furniture, and no decoration, Casey didn't put too much thought into his bedroom decor. Now one of the walls was a navy blue and their headboard was a grey fabric and their bedding and pillows actually matched.  
Then Chuck noticed the wall above their new dresser, it was a picture gallery wall, none of the frames matching, Chuck loved the unique look, there were candid pictures of him and Casey before they started dating where you could tell they had a love for each other, it made Chuck smile, there was a picture of Ellie holding a baby Chuck in the hospital, a few of all of them, one of Chuck's favorites was one of Morgan and Alex with Casey glaring at them in the background, there was a few of him and Morgan at various ages, some of him and Ellie when they were younger with their parents, it was perfect.  
“Oh my god, is that a baby John?” Chuck pointed to one of the pictures  
“How the hell did you get that” Casey growled.  
“Don’t underestimate Ellie’s powers, when she wants something she gets it”  
“Sorry dad” Alex laughed “Mom had it and she gave it to me to give to you”  
“I wish I could have your babies” Chuck signed so just Casey could see  
“You’re weird”  
“Look how adorable you were, I want a mini you”  
“Stop talk”  
“I’m not talking”  
“Everyone is staring, let’s go, we can spend more time in here when everyone leaves, and practice the baby-making”  
Chuck turned around to look at everyone else “Ellie, this is amazing, thank you so much”  
“Looks good” Casey really didn’t care what the bedroom looked like, but he saw the effort Ellie put into it and how happy it made Chuck, so he didn’t hate it.  
“I’m glad you two like it”  
“Now let’s go down the hall to my old bedroom for Casey’s gift”  
Chuck noticed Casey laugh,  
“I didn’t mean that pervert” Chuck could tell me made everyone laugh, he grabbed Casey’s hand as they walked to his old room.  
“Casey has generously let me take over the office downstairs, and he kind of has to put his stuff wherever he can, so for Christmas, I decided to turn my old bedroom into his own little getaway” Chuck opened the door. “See it looks like a small in-home gym, but” he pulled Casey over to the closet and took his thumb and put it on the pad above the doorknob, Casey watched as it scanned his thumb, then a number pad came up, Chuck typed in a number and the door opened.  
“Holy shit” Casey stared at the walk-in gun safe.  
“It’s also a panic room” Chuck slide over one of the gun cases and there was a wall of monitors.  
“So the old bathroom that’s now the pantry was a cover for this?”  
“Kinda” Chuck smirked “I did want the bigger pantry, but I had them reinforce the floor and all this other stuff I didn’t pay too much attention to”  
“I love it”  
“Wait, there is something else” Chuck pulled out one of the drawers that was full of handguns perfectly placed in their own little cutouts in the thick foam. “We all pitched in” Chuck pointed to a gold and black desert eagle with Colonel John Casey etched into the metal of the barrel. “Wow, she is gorgeous” Case picked it up and examined it, running his fingers lightly over his name.  
“And yes later today we can go to the range and test it out”  
Casey carefully put the gun back in its place before pulling Chuck into a hug, he wasn’t one for displaying their affection to each other in front of anyone, but he decided it was okay for this, he cupped Chuck’s face “I love you” he lightly kissed him on the lips.  
“Uh thanks, everyone”  
“Where is our hug” Ellie teased  
“Fine, but only because it’s Christmas”

“Holy hell, these sheets are so nice”  
“You look like Arlo rolling around like that” Casey laughed.  
“It’s been a very long exhausting day, leave me alone”  
“Well now that we have opened all the gifts and Christmas is over, we can be naughty again”  
Chuck busted out laughing, “I’m closing my eyes and acting like you didn’t just say that”  
“Today was great, thank you”  
“You kissed me in front of people, it was great”  
“They don’t need to see us kiss to know we are together”  
“But I like kissing you as much as I possibly can"  
"Can't let people think I've turned into a sap"  
"But you have" Chuck teased. "And I love it"  
"Are you going to lay in the bed like a normal person so I can get in?"  
"I guess" Chuck whined  
"You're ridiculous"  
"You can get in the bed if you take your pants off"  
"Oh you drive a hard bargain" Casey rolled his eyes  
"It's definitely hard" Chuck laughed.  
Casey stepped out of his pants before crawling into bed. “You can make stupid sex jokes but I can’t?”  
“How about neither of us make jokes and just make love”  
“Nope, getting my pants back on” Casey acted like he was going to climb out of the bed  
“Sorry, come back” Chuck pulled on his arm.  
“Why do you still have pants on?”

"Go away"  
"You are the worst morning person"  
"I know, but you insist on waking me up every day anyways"  
"I have to head into work"  
"Why" Chuck groaned.  
"It's the day after Christmas, you know how busy it will be, plus that commission bonus will be nice"  
"Tell me again why you woke me up?"  
"Because you need to get your ass to Castle and prep for your meeting"  
"Shit, I forgot about that" Chuck stretched  
"Is it still something you want to do?"  
"Of course" Chuck reluctantly climbed out of bed, "I just don't want to get out of this bed  
"We can stay in bed all weekend"  
"What if there is a mission?"  
"Sarah and Bryce can handle it, you can read over the file from the bed"  
"Sounds like a plan to me"

Chuck jumped when a paper bag was sat down in front of him. "What the hell" He turned to see his mom standing there. "Sorry, you scared me"  
"Brought you lunch" she signed lunch  
"Thank you" Chuck smiled at her, he hasn't been as close with her since she came back as Ellie has been, but he is working on it and spending Christmas with her helped.  
"I've been taking ASL lessons online, so I don't know much but I'm trying"  
"You're doing good"  
"How about taking a break and eat with me"  
"How did you know I was here?"  
"Your charming boyfriend"  
"Don't let him hear you call him charming" Chuck spoke slower as she signed so his mom could tell what signs were for each word. He grabbed the bag and rolled over from the desk to the meeting table "We can eat over here"  
"I wasn't sure if you still like the same foods as when you were a kid, so I did my best, hope you like it"  
"There isn't much food I won't eat" Chuck pulled out the container of breadsticks "Where is this place, I've never heard of it"  
"It just opened last week, Ellie and I found it when we were getting last-minute Christmas things"  
"Looks amazing" he pulled out three more containers of noodle dishes.  
"So what are you doing down here?"  
"Prepping for a meeting I have this afternoon, I'm going to try to keep working for the C.I.A but more on the tech side, obviously I still have to help with missions to an extent, but I want to make stuff or fix things, it's what I enjoy doing" Chuck rolled his chair back over to the desk "I have an idea" he pulled his tablet out of his backpack. "Don't know why I didn't think of it"  
He sat his portable microphone next to his mom and loaded up the communication app on his phone. "This will tell me what you are saying, in case I miss something trying to read your lips"  
"You made that program?"  
"I did, originally it was so I could go on missions, but I only went on one"  
"Where Morgan"  
"Yeah, don't want to talk about it"  
"I'm sorry Chuck"  
"Yeah I know"  
"You know I didn't have a choice"  
"I get it okay, I don't want to talk about the past, I'm too stressed out right now"  
"Tell me about you and John?"  
"What do you want to know?"  
"How long have you two been together?"  
"Since my birthday, which was September 29th in case you forgot"  
"I did not forget, I remember the day you were born very well"  
"It was the fourth anniversary of me being part of the CIA"  
"This all started on your birthday?"  
Chuck nodded, taking a bit of the spaghetti "This is pretty good, but we make a homemade sauce using tomatoes from the farmers market and we grow our herbs and it’s way better"  
"You two sound like an old married couple"  
"Speaking of, can I ask you something"  
"Of course Chuck"  
"Were you in contact with dad at all over the years?"  
"There were a few times he found me and reached out, but there was only one time I was able to respond"  
"Were you both working for the CIA when you met? Now that I know the truth I'm guessing it was bumping into each other at the grocery store like you told us growing up"  
Mary laughed "We did, I went into the tech room to pick up some stuff for a mission, and he gave me his number, it took a few months of him flirting before I gave in and went on a date, everything else was the truth"  
"Except you weren't a secretary"  
"I've pretended to be one a few time"  
"I wish they still did cool code names, Frost is a badass code name, we just use fake names now"  
"Charles Carmichael"  
Chuck nodded, "Morgan was Michael Carmichael" he laughed at the memory, "Sarah and Casey always made up new ones with each mission"  
"I'm not sure why they stopped that"  
"I'm still not convinced Sarah is not her real name, her dad is a con-artist"  
"What about the Bryce kid?"  
Chuck laughed, "Where do I even begin"  
They spend over an hour talking and catching up, it made Chuck happier than he thought it would but it was getting close to the time of his meeting, so they said their good-byes and Chuck got back to work on prepping for the meeting.

"Dammit, can people stop sneaking up on me"  
"No one sneaks up on you, you just can't hear us" Casey shrugged.  
"How was work?"  
"It's the Buy More during the holidays, what do you think?"  
"Then let's go home and crash on our giant couch and gorge ourselves on pizza with as many toppings as we can get"  
"Did your meeting not go well?"  
"It went great, so did lunch with my mom, by the way, she told me that my charming boyfriend told her where I was"  
"Charming?"  
"Prince Charming" he teasingly stuck his tongue out.  
"Gross, now tell me about your meeting"  
"Beckman thinks she has a perfect position for me, but I have to take a few online courses, she said she will email me with the class details soon"  
"I'm happy for you" Casey wrapped his arms around Chuck's lower back pulling him closer, placing a gentle kiss on his lips.  
Chuck rested his head on Casey's shoulder, just taking a moment to enjoy it.

Chuck tripped over nothing when he walked into Casey’s new ‘office’  
“You good?”  
Chuck didn’t say anything, just made his way over to his boyfriend, who was laying on a bench, lifting a bar with weights, Chuck had no idea what any of it was called, all he knew was Casey was shirtless and sweaty and his arms looked huge and Chuck wanted.  
Chuck straddled himself over Casey, his legs planted on the floor, he ran both hands up Casey’s chest.  
“Are you high?”  
“On your pheromones” Chuck kept moving his hands up until he was flat against Casey, “You are so fucking sexy, can you feel what you do to me?”  
Casey growled pulling Chuck into a kiss, lifting up his hips, pressing his hardening cock against Chuck's.  
Chuk sat up pulling his shirt off, tossing it to the floor.  
"Off" Casey pulled at Chuck's shorts.  
Chuck quickly got off of Casey and pulled his pants and briefs off.  
"Lube?"  
"No, I wasn't planning this, hold on" Chuck quickly walked down the hallway to their bedroom to grab some.  
When he walked back into the room Casey now had his pants off and was slowly stroking his cock. "Wow" Chuck breathed out.  
"What are you waiting for"  
"Did you say something? I was too distracted by your body"  
Casey motioned him with his finger "Ride me" he spelled out with one hand since his other one was busy.  
Chuck got back on top of Casey "I don't think I'll need much prep, want me to do it real quick?"  
"Absolutely not" Casey snatched the bottle from Chuck's hand.

Chuck: Today was difficult, can't wait to see you tonight

Casey: I may not be home when you get there, sorry.

Chuck: oh, okay, love you

Casey: you too.

Chuck was bummed when he got home, he had been taking classes for a little over a week and today was the first day where he followed someone around at a laundromat, well in the back of a laundromat where there was a CIA base. It was a hard day and Casey had been gone for two days for a mission and he missed him.  
When Chuck walked into the house, Casey, Ellie, Devon, Alex, Bennett, Sarah, Bryce, and his mom were all there.  
"What is happening?"  
Casey grabbed his hand and lead him to the dining room, the table was set with paper Star Wars plates and cups and there were party decorations all themed Star Wars.  
"My birthday is in September"  
"Today is January thirteenth" Alex signed  
"Oh, wow, something has been bothering me all day, and I couldn't pinpoint it, can't believe I didn't realize it"  
"I thought we could all have dinner together, Bolonia and Big Mike are on the way with some of Morgan's favorite foods, we have plenty of grape soda and a cheesecake for dessert"  
"This was your idea?" Chuck looked at his boyfriend, who just nodded. "You're amazing, I love you so much" Chuck wrapped his arms around him. "I'm going to go clean up, I'll be down in a minute" Chuck didn't really need to do anything, but he needed a minute alone to cry, Chuck figured Arlo could tell because he followed him.

"Hello Chuck"  
"Hello, Bennett" Chuck had a huge smile on his face seeing him sign. "I see Alex taught you my sign name"  
"It's funny" he giggled. "She also told me you work with puppies, I want that job, I love Moe"  
"I do, there are all kinds of animals, we just got some bunnies last week, and I bet if you ask Alex really nice, she will bring you to visit me one day and I can show you around and you can help me"  
"Ohhhh I want to do that"  
"We can talk about it later, I think it's time to eat"  
"Alex, Alex" he ran over to her "Chuck said we can visit him at the animal place and help with one day"  
"Sounds like a plan" she helped him into one of the chairs.  
"It's cute seeing you with him" Casey signed to Chuck  
"Cute, I love when you use words like that" Chuck smirked at him as he walked over to hug Morgan's mom. They all ate and shared stories about Morgan, they laughed, they cried, it was perfect. Then after they ate they watched Star Wars The Empire Strikes back, Bennett ended up falling asleep cuddled up next to Chuck and Arlo, Casey took more pictures than he would ever admit too. Alex has been his nanny since Casey found out about her over two years ago, so he almost feels like a grandson to him at this point, and it's making him want more kids of his own.

When everyone else left Casey tapped Chuck on the cheek until he woke up.  
"Bennett and Arlo are asleep on you" He signed so he wouldn't wake them.  
"Have Alex get the bed ready upstairs, and I'll carry him up"  
"I'll carry him, you are accident prone"  
"Good idea, where is Moe?"  
Casey pointed over to Arlo's bed "We should get him the same one, it's his go-to spot"  
"I agree, now hurry, I have to pee"  
Casey went up to show Alex where the spare toothbrushes were in the guest bathroom and helped her get both rooms ready for her and Bennett.

When they came down the stairs he paused when he heard Bennett and Chuck talking.  
"So Morgan was your bestest friend ever? He was funny"  
"He was, we met when we were nine"  
"I'm only seven, but I have a best friend named Joey, I hope we can be friends forever"  
"You can be if you choose to"  
"I hope you and Alex are my friends forever too"  
"Me too"  
"She is really sad that Morgan is gone, are you sad too?"  
"Every single day"  
"I'm sorry that your friend is gone and I wish you weren't sad" he wrapped his arms around Chuck and all the adults had tears in their eyes.

"Happy Valentines Day," Chuck says way too cheerfully as he wakes Casey up with heart-shaped pancakes on a pink plate sitting on a tray with a coffee mug covered in hearts and a small vase with red and pink roses in it.  
"No"  
"Uh rude, and yes, now sit the hell up before I drop this"  
Casey glares at him as he sits up, "Why?"  
"Because I love you and it's love day"  
"It's a made-up holiday"  
"Don't care, we have a day of activities planned"  
"Absolutely not"  
"Absolutely yes"  
"You are ridiculous"  
"I'm aware, but you love me anyway"  
"Where did you even get pink plates?"  
"The store, be right back, I'm going to get mine"  
"No, let's eat at the table, I don't want syrup in our bed"  
"Fine, kill the romance"  
"We can fuck on the table if you want"  
"Yeah, so romantic" Chuck rolled his eyes.

Casey carefully carried the tray back downstairs, wondering just how Chuck managed to do it without making a mess.  
"Oh my god, did the party store throw up in here?" he looked around at all the pink, red and white decor in the dining room.  
"I went to the dollar store to get that popcorn you liked and I saw it all and went a little crazy"  
"Please tell me you remembered the popcorn"  
"Not until I got in the car, I did go back in and get it though" Chuck made himself a plate and joined Casey at the table "This is mostly decorated for dinner, hence the candles"  
"And what is dinner?"  
"I'm not telling you" Chuck took a bite of the pancakes, syrup dripping down his chin "How are they?"  
"They taste the same no matter what shape they are in"  
"I disagree"  
"What the hell did you let him do to you Arlo" Casey laughed when Arlo walked in wearing a red sweater and bandana with conversation hearts on it. "We live in California, he is a dog, he doesn't need a sweater"  
"But look how cute he is"  
"Are you on drugs?"  
"I've never done a drug in my life"  
"I highly doubt you did almost four years at Stanford and didn't smoke pot once"  
"Never"  
"Even with Bryce?"  
"Seriously never, maybe a second hand from a party or from being in the general vicinity of Jeff"  
"Interesting"  
"Why are we having this conversation"  
Casey shrugged "Because you are way too into this Valentine's shit"  
"Sorry" Chuck frowned "We have had a shitty few months, and we have celebrated four holidays that all involved family and sadness because we all missed Morgan, this holiday is about celebrating couples and love and this is the first time in my life I'm dating someone who actually loves me back, so sorry I got excited"  
"Chuck"  
"No, it's okay, sometimes I forget that you used to be this emotionless hardass"  
Casey had to grab his face to get him to look at him, "I love you, Chuck,, and I want to celebrate this day with just us doing cheesy couple shit because if you are happy, then I'm happy but I’m still going to poke fun at it because it is ridiculous, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you"  
"Okay"  
"We aren't wearing matching clothes"  
Chuck laughed "Guess I need to return the 'I'm with him' shirts"  
"We can use them to clean up after I bend you over the table"  
Chuck blushed "Maybe after dinner, I worked hard on setting the table up"  
"What's next on the agenda?"  
"Canyon hike with Arlo, yes I’ll remove the sweater but the bandana is staying, shower sex, then I have another activity planned that I can’t tell you, then dinner”  
"How about Canyon sex, where we can show everyone just how much we love each other" Casey teased.  
"I'd rather not get arrest"  
"Maybe I can get us access to the Hollywood sign, press you up against one of the letters" he wiggled his eyebrows  
"Just eat your pancakes"

"Thank you for holding my hand while we walked"  
"It was gross and sweaty, why do people like that?"  
"Because I got to show everyone that a nerdy guy like me can get a sexy strong man like you"  
"Or they thought hey look at that twink with the strong Marine"  
"True" Chuck laughed, "You didn't even know what top and bottom was a few months ago, and you just said twink, that's hilarious"  
"Can we get to the next activity?"  
"Then why aren’t you taking my clothes off?"  
Casey stepped closer to him, grabbing the collar of his shirt he tore it down the front.  
"That made me so hard, holy shit"  
Casey smirked pulling the torn fabric down Chuck's arms, capturing Chuck's lips with his own.  
Chuck grabbed the front of Casey's shorts pulling their bodies closer. Casey leaning his upper half back just enough to pull his shirt off, Chuck nuzzled his face in the crook of Casey's neck, it was their way of communicating, Casey growled as Chuck lightly kissed his neck.  
Casey pushed Chuck's shorts and briefs down the best he could before stepping out of his. Grabbing Chuck's hips he walked them over to the shower, Chuck stepping out of his clothes on the way.  
Casey pressed him against the tile wall, reaching over to turn the shower on without breaking apart, they both jumped as the cold water hit their skin but after hiking and running it felt nice.  
Casey's fingers made their way between Chuck's cheeks, running his middle finger over Chuck's hole. Chuck knocked everything off the shelf trying to grab the bottle of lube they kept there.  
"Shit" he looked over to see Casey laughing.  
"Smooth Bartowski" Casey bent over to grab the lube, he can get the rest later, Chuck squeezed a cheek in each hand "You have such a nice ass, am I ever going to get to play with it?"  
Casey shrugged before turning to face Chuck he signed "Maybe one day, not today and not in the shower"  
"Even if it's just my tongue, I'd be okay with that"  
Casey growled "Turn around"  
"No, I hate that"  
"Just let me open you up real quick then you can turn around and I'll fuck you so good you will be walking funny the rest of the day"  
Chuck couldn't help but laugh as he turned around pressing his chest to the cool tile, sticking his ass out. Casey stuck to his word and opened Chuck up quickly, which was easy since they did end up having sex after they ate breakfast, not over the table though, Chuck rode him in the dining room chair.  
Chuck's body was a little slippery because of the water but it didn't stop Casey from lifting him up, holding tight to his thighs as he pressed into him.  
Chuck's arms wrapped around his neck, "God John, so good"

"So what's activity number three?"  
"A nap"  
"I did all the work" Casey joked.  
"We have a little over an hour until we have to be there, we can have a quick lunch here or go grab something"  
"How about you go lay down on the couch and relax with the pup and I'll make lunch"  
"I like that idea" Chuck put on some comfy clothes and curled up on the couch with Arlo and flipped through the channels until he found something to watch, it may have been on the Hallmark channel and it may have been a cheesy love story.

"Oh I love you" Chuck exclaimed as Casey handed him a plate with a big sandwich on it, then he sat down a bowl of dip and a bag of chips on the coffee table before going back into the kitchen.  
"Did you make this dip?" Chuck called after him, sitting up to taste it.  
When Casey came back he had his own sandwich and a drink for each of them.  
"Why do you always ask me questions when I'm not in the room, I can't answer you, and no, it's the store-bought kind"  
"I don't know, sometimes I forget you can't just yell your response"  
"The sexual sounds you make when eating sandwiches concerns me"  
Chuck shrugged, "It's a damn good sandwich"  
"What the fuck is on the tv?"  
"Love" Chuck laughed.  
Casey just rolled his eyes. “I’d rather watch one of your nerdy movies”

"Are you ready?"  
"To go into a warehouse I know nothing about, no"  
"Be brave"  
Casey just glared at him.  
"This is going to one of the best days ever, come one" Chuck grabbed his hand and lead him inside and up to a desk. "Hello, I'm Chuck Bartowski, I emailed you about reservations"  
Casey signed while the man behind the counter talked.  
"Let me just get you signed in and have someone come out and take you back, while you wait, go right over there" he pointed "and get your gear on"  
"Gear?" Casey signed again, Chuck just smiled at him.  
"He has no idea what is going on, it's a surprise"  
"Oh nice, dude you're going to love it"  
"Don't call me a dude"  
"Sorry" the guy mumbled.

"Chuck, what the hell is this?"  
"Just put on the suit, some gloves and the helmet with face shield"  
Casey slipped on one of the canvas cover-alls, still not having a single clue about what was going on. "Are these worn by other people"  
"Obviously, but they clean them, cheer up, this is going to be so much fun"  
Once they were all geared up they sat on a bench and waited for someone to come to get them. 

"So you two paid for the ultimate package, did you look online to see what rooms we have?"  
Chuck nodded "Yeah, we want the multi-room"  
"Good choice"  
They followed the guy into the room, Casey looked around at the wall of glassware and small figurines and a table full of old computers, printers, and other random electronics.  
The guy handed them both a sledgehammer "Okay, you guys have half an hour, there is an emergency button here" he pointed by the door "I'll be back at the end of the thirty minutes and take you to the next activity" the guy left the room  
"What the hell is going on?"  
"This is called a rage room, we smash whatever we wanted"  
"How have I never heard of these?"  
Chuck shrugged, "Let's break shit" he grabbed one of the old computer monitors and sat it on the table in the middle of the room and began hitting it with the hammer. 

"That was amazing, I'm turned on" Casey signed  
Chuck laughed "That's hilarious, but we aren't done, and tuck away the boner because I don't want you to lose it during the next activity"  
They took off all the gear and followed the guy down a long hall into another part of the warehouse.  
"Are we throwing axes?"  
Chuck just smile Casey held up the sign for I love you.  
"I know" Chuck stuck out his tongue.  
Casey tried to listen to the instructions but he was too eager to get to it and he knew exactly what to do.  
"Let me go first because the thought of you throwing an ax scares me"  
"Oh whatever" he tapped on his head "I got it"  
Casey picked up the ax and threw it, almost making it in the middle,  
"Good job Casey" Chuck high fived him before Casey walked up to take the ax out of the wooden target.  
"If you flash and do better than me, it doesn't count"  
"Okay sore loser" Chuck grabbed the ax and got into position, he flashed, not that he could stop it, and he threw the ax hitting the middle.  
"Cheater" Casey signed.  
They each threw the ax a few more times before switching to throwing knives then ninja stars, Chuck tried his best to not get a bullseye every time, but his body did what it wanted after he flashed.

"Sorry"  
"Don't be, that was really fun"  
"Glad you liked it"  
"We need to come back"  
"There is one more stop, it's outside"  
"Paintball?"  
"No, I'm not stupid enough to play a game like that with you, plus a game that involves being sneaky doesn't work when you're deaf"  
"Yeah, I live with you, and hear you try and sneak down to the kitchen for midnight snacks when you think you are being quiet"  
Chuck shrugged "I get hungry sometimes"  
"Arlo usually gives you away with the jingling collar"  
"I had no idea his collar made noise"  
Chuck grabbed his hand and followed the guy outside for the next thing.  
"Go-kart racing?"  
"We can, but that's not part of this package, we are doing archery"  
"Like that dude, you always drool over in those superhero movies?"  
"Hawkeye? Yes, that's exactly why I want to do this, he is in a few movies you may like"  
"So you can drool over him?"  
"Yes"  
After the archery, they did a few rounds on the go-kart track before heading back home.

"There is someone in the house"  
"I know, I hired someone to make us dinner"  
"Really?"  
"Yup, a huge meal with appetizers and everything"  
"Fancy"  
"This way we can enjoy dinner just the two of us, and we can wear pajamas"  
"I swear to god if you have Valentine's pajamas I'm breaking up with you"  
"Okay, mister heart-shaped boxer" Chuck walked into the kitchen to meet the chef. "Hello Jason"  
"Hi Chuck"  
Casey was shocked when the chef signed.  
"This is my boyfriend Casey, Casey this is Jason, he is deaf"  
"Nice to meet you" they shook hands.  
"You two go get comfy, the first plate will be done in a few minutes"  
"Thank you"  
They went up to clean up and change. 

"So where did you meet him?"  
"An online deaf group, and yes I ran a background check"  
"Nice"  
Jason brought out the first plates and sat them down in front of each of them then walked over to the bar cart Casey had just noticed was not his usual favorites, it was now different wines. He watched as the chef poured them each a glass, "We are starting off with a Caprese salad with some pineapple rumaki paired with a rose wine"  
"What is rumaki?" Chuck looked at it  
"Pineapple and water chestnuts wrapped in bacon and drizzled with sesame ginger sauce"  
"Sounds amazing, thank you" Casey signed.  
Chuck took a bite of a rumaki "Holy shit, we need to learn to make this"  
"Don't ruin my appetite by talking with your mouth full" Casey took a bite "I agree" he signed.

"Your next course is a butternut squash soup paired with a Gewurztraminer wine" he showed them the bottle so they knew what he has spelled.  
"Oh fancy, I've never heard of that before"  
"It's kind of a sweet white wine with notes of cinnamon, ginger, and honey"  
"That will taste nice with the soup, I'm excited thank you"  
"I've never been much of a wine person, but the pairings with food makes such a difference"  
"I love wine"  
"Because you are the girl in this relationship"  
Chuck playfully glared at him "Last time I checked we were both men"  
"It was a joke Bartowski"

"This is a steak, medium, on top of a bed of mashed potatoes and asparagus, then topped with a mixture of fresh crab and lobster with a homemade bearnaise sauce paired with a pinot noir"  
"If you need a place to live, we have a spare room" Chuck joked "This looks amazing, thank you so much"  
"You're welcome, I'm going to clean up and head out, you two enjoy your night"  
"Thank you" Casey signed.

"I can't move"  
"That was so good"  
"We have dessert too"  
"Let's wait"  
"I agree"  
Casey pulled Chuck over to the couch where the curled up together the best they could while still being able to sign "You went all out today and I actually really enjoyed it"  
"I wanted to go all out because I knew you wouldn't like something for Valentine's day and your birthday so this is like a combination for both"  
"All I want for my birthday is your ass with a bow on it"  
Chuck laughed "That's fine with me"  
Casey pulled Chuck closer, he held left hand up in front of Chuck’s face, making the sign for I love you, Chuck lifted his right hand, making the same sign and pressing it against Casey’s.  
“If we fall asleep, then tomorrow I’ll feed you all the chocolate covered fruits I made”  
“Deal” Casey spelled out in front of Chuck’s face.

"Wake up birthday boy"  
Casey rolled over and stretched his body out, his eyes making their way down Chuck's naked body "Happy birthday is right" then he looked up to see Chuck wearing a paper birthday hat and holding a plate with someone on it he couldn't tell with a candle in it. "What do you have?"  
"An omelet"  
"With a candle"  
Chuck nodded, "Want me to sing?"  
"No, why are you naked?"  
Chuck shrugged "I figured for your birthday this is how you would want me, now sit up"  
"I just woke up, let me take a leak first"  
"Okay"

When Casey came back out Chuck had lit the candle, "Make a wish"  
"You're naked and about to feed me breakfast, my wishes are granted" Casey blew out the candle then kissed his boyfriend before climbing back in bed, sitting with his back against the headboard. Chuck straddled his lap, “I made this one with all the things, peppers, mushrooms, onions, ham, bacon, spinach, and cheese”  
Casey opened his mouth so Chuck could feed him.  
“You?”  
“I ate mine while making yours” he fed Casey another bite “Today is all about you”  
“Does that mean I get to do whatever?”  
“What did you have in mind?”  
“Haven’t decided past the blow job I’m about to get” he winked  
“While you eat?”  
“After, and if I remember right, there is supposed to be a bow on your ass”  
“I think I can manage that”  
“Let’s not leave the house or put clothes on today”  
“Well you are going to the shooting range while Alex and I work on dinner”  
“Don’t say her name while you’re naked”  
“Good point, now hurry and eat this”

"Alex are you okay?"  
"Yes"  
"Why are you crying, you're scaring me"  
"I need to talk to you about something and I'm scared"  
"What's wrong, please tell me John is okay"  
"He is fine, at least he was last time I talked to him, It's about Ellie's wedding"  
"Okay" Chuck put his hand on the back of hers "You know you can tell me anything"  
"I have a date"  
"Oh" Chuck took a moment to process how he was feeling "That's great"  
"Are you sure?"  
"Of course, I don't expect you to stay single forever, tell me about him"  
She didn't say anything, just pulled him into a hug, Chuck could tell she was crying by the way her body lightly shook, so he rubbed her back until she sat back.  
"So how did you meet? What's his name? And most importantly is he a nerd?"  
Alex smiled "His name is Joshua, we met at Bennett's school, he is a kindergarten teacher, and yes he is a nerd"  
"If he makes you happy then I'm happy for you"  
"He does, we have been casually dating for a few weeks and I asked Ellie if he could come to the wedding and she told me to talk to you first"  
"Of course I'm fine with it, I promise, and I know Morgan would say you need to stay single forever because he is the best boyfriend ever but deep down I know he would be glad you are happy, plus you have Moe"  
“Thank you so much, Chuck”  
“How about you invite him to dinner tonight”  
“Are you sure?”  
“I’m fine Alex, I promise, your dad might freak out a little though”  
“I already told Joshua about my scary marine dad and he knows about Morgan and how much we all love him and will always love him and he is still a big part of our lives”  
“If you aren’t ready to bring him around yet, that’s fine, but I thought it would be nice since everyone else coming tonight would be coupled up”  
“Wait, are Sarah and Bryce finally admitting they are together again?”  
“No, but they have to know we all know”  
“Is it weird that your two exes are dating?”  
“Technically me and Sarah never actually dated, it was all a cover, we did kiss once and yes I did have feelings for her but it was never anything crazy”  
“And Bryce?”  
“I’m not sure, things were never really ended properly between us and then dealing with his death and then finding out he was still alive then finding out about him and Sarah, it’s been an emotional struggle that’s for sure, but I love John more than anything and obviously there are no feelings for Bryce, it’s just confusing”  
“Sorry to bring it up”  
“Don’t be, it’s okay, are you ready to start decorating?”  
“He is going to hate it, so yes” Chuck laughed “Pretty sure he burned all Valentine’s decorations”  
“Lucky for you I can take all the blame and he shrugs it off”  
“Imagine if we have a little girl, you’re an adult and he is wrapped around your finger, imagine him with a baby”  
“It will be too cute to handle” He started sorting out the decorations they had bought “I didn’t know you two had talked about kids”  
“We have a few times, nothing serious yet, but I think it’s something we both really want”  
“I can’t wait, you will both make such amazing parents, I may cry just thinking about it”  
“No crying please, because if you cry, I cry”  
“I always wonder what it would have been like to grow up with him”  
“He would probably be a completely different person and we would not be standing here right now”  
“True”  
Chuck looked at his watch “Crap, I need to start making the fries”  
“Who is grilling?”  
“Obviously your dad, he isn’t going to want anyone else touching his grill, especially on his birthday that he didn’t want to celebrate”  
“He knows about dinner right?”  
“Yes, I told him we are having dinner with everyone and was only okay with it because he loves using the grill”  
“Well you start working in the kitchen, I’ll take care of the decor”  
“Thanks, Alex” for her sign name they use A-L.

“Honey I’m home”  
“He can’t hear you dad”  
“I was talking to Arlo”  
Alex laughed, “Well him and Moe have been outside since I got here”  
“Whose idea was it to decorate?”  
“Mine”  
“Are you just saying that because you know I’d never get mad at you?”  
“No comment, now go help your boyfriend in the kitchen”  
Casey gave his daughter a quick hug before heading into the kitchen,  
“Hello” Casey loved the smile on Chuck’s face every time he came home  
“Hello birthday boy”  
“What are you working on?”  
“I just prepped the potatoes for the grill, and I’ve cut up some veggies and made some dip, now I’m working on the fruit”  
“Are you making that yogurt dip?”  
“Of course”  
“How do the steaks look?”  
“I picked out the best ones, was just waiting on you to prep them”  
“What time will everyone be here?”  
“About thirty minutes, Sarah and Bryce had a mission so they may be running late, Awesome sent me a text that they are getting ready at the hospital then heading this way, and we have one more person coming but I’ll leave that up to Alex to tell you”  
Casey glared at him “What are you hiding?”  
“Nothing”  
“I know you are lying”  
“Alex help me” Chuck yelled, or he thought he did, sometimes he still had trouble with knowing the how loud or quiet he walk talking.

“Dad what are you doing to him?”  
“What are you two hiding?”  
“Nothing” Alex gave him a questioning look  
“Who is coming to dinner?”  
“Oh right, my boyfriend Joshua”  
“Did you say, boyfriend?”  
“A friend is a boy who I kiss sometimes yes”  
Casey growled, Chuck laughed.  
“I’m going to go continue setting the table, it will be fine dad”  
When Alex left the room Casey signed to Chuck so she couldn’t hear “Are you okay?”  
“Yeah, surprisingly I am, Alex cried when she told me and I almost teared up, but she is happy and I’m okay with that, I can’t expect her to stay single forever”  
“I can”  
Chuck rolled his eyes “I have something I need your help within the pantry first”  
Casey followed Chuck into their pantry “I was going to ask if you need help reaching something but your arms are longer”  
Chuck pulled the door shut “Just wanted to kiss you, a lot, missed you”  
Casey smiled, wrapped an arm around Chuck’s lower back and gripping the back of his neck with the other pulling their bodies together.  
“Happy birthday” Chuck mumbled against his lips.

Both their shirts were pulled up so their chests were touching, pants down at their ankles as they rutted their brief covered cocks together. “Close” Chuck spelled out, not trusting himself to whisper.  
Casey growled into the crook of his neck before sinking his teeth into him, Chuck gasped, quickly pulling Casey’s head up so he could kiss him to stop himself from making too much noise.  
Chuck reached between them to rub Casey’s cock, it only took a few times before he was coming too.  
“Shit”  
“What did you say?”  
“Shit, someone is knocking on the door”  
“Oh no,” Chuck pulled his pants up “What do we do?”  
“Stay here until they leave” Casey laughed, cracking the door open, Chuck couldn’t tell who it was or what they were saying.  
Casey turned around to sign to him “Walker, Alex sent her to find us”  
“Oh god, that’s so embarrassing”  
“Your idea”  
“Didn’t think it would end in us coming in our pants”  
“Worth it, let’s go clean up”  
“Happy birthday my love” Chuck gave him a quick kiss before walking out of the pantry.

“Nice one Chuck” Bryce signed as Chuck walked passed him, Sarah and Alex in the living room  
“Shut up Bryce” Chuck flipped him off,  
“Jealous Larkin” Casey signed so Chuck could see.  
“Nope, I had my time with him already” he winked,  
“Yeah he had to move on to bigger and better” he emphasized the work bigger  
“Okay both of you stop” Alex cut in

“Why did you follow me?”  
“They already know we did something in the pantry, not going to sit in my come soaked pants”  
“I’m so embarrassed, but I’m glad Ellie isn’t here yet”  
“But my daughter is”  
“Fuck”  
“Not till everyone leaves”  
“Oh my god shut up and go start the grill”  
“Love you Bartowski”  
“Love you, John”

“Hey dad, this is Joshua, Joshua, this is my dad”  
Casey shook his hand, firmly. “What branch did you serve in?”  
“Air Force, currently on reserve”  
“Dad, how did you know that?”  
“I can see his dog tag chain”  
“Right” Alex laughed.  
“I don’t know his last name yet, and I didn’t have time to run a background check”  
“It’s Major Joshua Levi, I have a clean record sir”  
“Nice to meet you”  
“I’m Chuck” Chuck held his hand out “The deaf boyfriend”  
“Hello, my name is Josh” he signed  
“Nice to meet you”  
“Alex has taught me a few things, on our first date she didn’t realize she was signing some of the words and I was confused at first, then she told me one of her best friends slash dad’s boyfriend was deaf” Alex signed for him. “Big props to all of you because it’s harder than I thought’  
“It is” Chuck laughed “Pretty sure some of the signs we have made up and just go with it”  
“I’m going to grab Awesome and hit the grill”  
“That’s fine, but you and Chuck are banned from going anywhere alone”  
“It’s our house and my birthday, if I want to make out in the pantry with him, I’m going to” Casey winked at his blushing boyfriend.  
“But there is food in there”  
“We didn’t make a mess” Chuck added, “Can we please talk about something else before Ellie hears about it”  
“She is talking to Bryce, she may already know”  
“Nice to meet you, I’ll be right back” 

“Hi Ellie”  
“Hey Chuck” she stood up and gave him a hug “The place looks nice, I’m surprised Casey went with it”  
“Alex did the decorating, I bribed him with nice steaks and grilling”  
“And a quicky in the pantry”  
Chuck flipped him off “Who even invited you?”  
“The pantry where you keep food?”  
“No Ellie, it wasn’t like that, Bryce is just being an asshat per usual”  
“So I see you met Josh? How did that go”  
“It’s fine, and it would be better if everyone stopped asking, all I see is one of my best friends and her new boyfriend, nothing else”  
“Okay, sorry, do you need help with drinks or anything?”  
“I don’t think so, I think all we are waiting on is the fries to finish up and the guys to cook the steak”  
“The remodel looks amazing, I realized I haven’t been here since Christmas and it wasn’t done yet”  
“Let me give you a tour”

-Two months later-

“Happy Anniversary” Chuck plopped down on the couch next to Casey  
“What are you talking about?”  
“One year ago today you had to carry my limp bloody body out of a warehouse and our lives changed forever”  
“One year seems like longer”  
“Are you fed up with me yet?”  
“Constantly” he poked Chuck’s side “Are you nervous?”  
“Yeah, I haven’t gotten my hopes up, or well I’m trying not to, but I can’t help but get excited about the idea that I may be able to hear you one day”  
“Well guess what, I’ll still love you, even if you are deaf forever”  
“Stop being so sweet, gross” Chuck teasingly stuck his tongue out  
“Oh yeah” Casey smirked as he tackled Chuck back onto the couch.  
"As much as I want us to have sex with you right now, I really need to get to my appointment"  
"Are you sure you don't want me to go?"  
"No, I need to do this alone"  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yes, I'll have Arlo, I'll be fine" Chuck gave him a quick kiss "I love you, John"  
"You too Chuck"

"What is this?"  
“We are celebrating”  
“I still can’t hear and I'll probably never hear again"  
“But you’re alive and that's what matters”  
“I don’t know about that”  
“I thought we were over the woah is me bullshit”  
“I just found out that I will never get my hearing back and my boyfriend thought it would be a good idea to have this nice lunch in our backyard when all I want to do is lay in bed and cry”  
Casey shook his head “Did you ever stop to think it was maybe something else?”  
“No”  
“How about we just eat”  
“I’m not hungry”  
“I’m sure it fucking sucks not to be able to hear, and I’m sorry but I love you for who you are, hearing or not. Did you realize I’m being fucking cheesy as hell because you have turned me into a giant sap"  
Chuck looked around then met Casey’s eyes “I’m sorry” he mumbled.  
Casey reached into his pocket “I want to spend the rest of my life with you Chuck” he opened the black velvet box setting it on the table so he could sign “Will you marry me?” he picked the ring back up holding it out to Chuck who just stared at it.  
“You John Casey want to marry me?” his voice was shaky  
“I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t”  
“I don’t know what to say”  
“It’s a yes or no question”  
“I just don’t think it’s that easy”  
“It really is”  
“Would we even be together if the accident never happened?”  
Casey glared at him “You’re kidding right?”  
“No, it’s a serious question”  
Casey shook his head “I can’t believe this” he stood up staring at the small gold band for a moment before snapping the lid shut and throwing down on the blanket. “I don’t even know what to say, so I'm walking away before I say anything I regret"  
"Casey wait" Chuck jumped up and followed him "Please stop" he grabbed his arm"  
"What" he growled.  
"I'm sorry, I'm having a bad day, and I was not expecting this at all, I'm sorry I said that"  
"Has the last year been a joke to you?"  
"No absolutely not"  
"I need some time"  
"No please don't walk away" Chuck started to cry,  
"You obviously need time to think about what you want in life, I'm going to pack a bag and stay somewhere else if you need anything I'm sure Alex and Ellie can help you"  
"No, please don't"  
"Nothing you say will stop me from leaving right now"  
"Are you breaking up with me"  
"No, but if that is something you decide after a few days then I will respect that"  
"I don't want that, I want to be with you, I want to marry you"  
"Bye Chuck"

It had been five days since the proposal and Chuck had not seen or heard from Casey since, he tried but had no luck, until now when he finally got a text.

Casey: I know we aren't talking right now, but I wanted to let you know I'm going out of town for a mission.  
Casey: New York

Chuck: I'm not home if you need to stop and get stuff  
Chuck: I love you

Chuck knew the truth, it wasn't a mission, and Casey may hate him even more for it, but it was worth a shot.

When Casey got to his hotel room he rolled his eyes at the suit that was waiting for him, he hated missions where he had to wear suits. He got dressed and made his way down to the ballroom to meet Sarah and Bryce.  
"Look at you John"  
"Shut up Walker" Casey pulled at the neck of his white button-up shirt "What is this event anyway? There wasn't a file in my room"  
"A wedding"  
"A wedding? What the hell kind of mission is this?"  
"It's not a mission" Bryce opened the door  
"What the hell is going on?"  
"It's your wedding"  
Sarah looped her arm with Casey  
"You're fucking with me right?"  
"Come on"  
"No, I need to talk to Chuck first, he can't expect me to just walk down the aisle and marry him after he said no to my proposal and we haven't talked in almost a week"  
Sarah shrugged, "You can talk when you get up there"  
Casey growled, "I hate you"  
Sarah walked him to the front of the room where Alex was standing looking gorgeous in a navy blue dress that matched Casey's suit.  
"Hi dad" she whispered, he just glared at her. "Smile" he didn't  
He finally looked to see who was there, it was only Sarah, Bryce, Devon, and Alex's boyfriend Josh he guessed Ellie was with Chuck.  
When the music started to play he closed his eyes, he wasn't sure how to feel, he loved Chuck and wanted to marry him, but he didn't understand why Chuck would do this, why he wouldn't want to talk through their issues first.  
When he opened his eyes again Chuck was walking towards him with a huge smile on his face.  
Chuck hugged Ellie and kissed her cheek before moving to stand in front of Casey, Arlo sat behind him wearing a navy bowtie that matched Chuck's.  
Casey was shocked to see Beckman walk out and stand between them  
"He got you in on this too?"  
"What can I say, I love a good wedding"  
"Are we really doing this before talking about it?" Casey signed without talking.  
"Not forcing you to be here" Chuck didn't speak either  
"No, just tricking me"  
"Surprise, not trick"  
Beckman signed as she spoke "Would you two like to continue this ceremony"  
"No, we will be right back" he grabbed Chuck's arm and pulled him out of the room.

"You seriously think this is okay?"  
"Please don't yell at me"  
"I'm not yelling"  
"I thought it would be fun"  
"Five days ago you didn't even want to marry me, I've been living in a hotel room, we haven't talked, and you want to just get married"  
"I was not in a good place five days ago, I'm sorry and I've called and texted, you didn't answer"  
"I obviously want to marry you, but those things you said hurt, I put my heart on the line for you, I'm a completely different person because of you, I don't open up to anyone, I don't love easily, but I fell for you hard and you basically threw it in my face saying you didn't want to be alive and you thought I was only with you because of the accident" Casey closed his eyes for a moment to stop the tears that were forming, he usually didn't cry but he was so angry and overwhelmed.  
"I wish I knew what to say to make you forgive me for what I said, I regret it okay, I'm glad I'm alive, I'm glad you love me because I love you too and I want to spend the rest of my life signing to you how much you mean to me even if I can't hear you. It's something I'll probably struggle with for a long time, but I'm so glad I have you to help me through it"  
"Why did I have to fly all the way to New York to marry you?"  
"Because I've always wanted to visit New York" Chuck shrugged. "And I found a really cool AirBnB for us to stay in"  
"I need you to swear to me right now that you will never say any of that again, no matter how you are feeling"  
"Deal, as long as you never walk away and stay in a hotel"  
"I'm not taking your last name"  
"We will discuss that later" Chuck grabbed his hand and pulled him back down the aisle to where General Beckman was waiting for them.  
Chuck loved the fact that his sister hired an interrupter to sign her wedding so that Chuck knew what was being said, but for his wedding, he wanted their vows to each other to be ASL only.  
"The fact that I'm standing here right now marrying Mr. Bartowski and Colonel Casey is still a shock to me" everyone laughed. "They have decided to vow their love to each other, using the language that brought them to this point, so if you understand ASL then lucky you, if not, ask a friend for the cliff notes later at the reception. Chuck, you go first"  
"John, I know the last year hasn't been easy, it has been the best and worst year of my life, and honestly if it wasn't for you I don't know where my life would be right now. You made me smile when all I wanted to do was cry, you are the reason I learned ASL, you are the one who saved my life in many many ways and I am forever grateful and lucky to have you in my life and I am so excited to spend the rest of my life getting on your nerves. I Charles Irving Bartowski take you John Casey to be my husband, forever and always" he pulled a ring from his pocket, Casey held out his left hand so Chuck could slide it on his finger. He grabbed the pocket square from the chest pocket of his suit jacket and wiped the tears off Chuck's face.  
"I don't know what to say, I've never been one for words but there is something about you Chuck that has turned me into this emotional person that I don't recognize and for some reason, I'm okay with that. I fell in love with you before I even knew I was capable of loving someone" Alex tapped on his shoulder, he turned to see her holding out the ring he got for Chuck. He grabbed it from her hand, turning back to Chuck, sliding the ring on his finger so he can sign the rest of his vows "I John Casey take you Charles Bartowski to be my nerd forever" He held up his hand making the I love you sign, Chuck did the same, pressing it to his, they stared into each other's eyes for a moment.  
"You can kiss now" Beckman brought them out of their thoughts.  
Casey gently cupped Chuck's face, pulling him into a kiss.

"Do we really have to dance?"  
"Don't act like you didn't love slow dancing with me at Ellie's wedding"  
"I was drunk"  
"Then have a few more, because we are dancing"  
Casey wrapped his arms around Chuck's lower back "I can't sign when we dace"  
"Well I can't see you so it's fine" Chuck rested his head on Casey's shoulder, at Ellie's wedding the music was loud and Chuck would feel the vibrations through the floor, right now all he had was Casey's humming, but it was good enough for him.  
Since there were only a few people there, they stayed in the ballroom Chuck rented for the ceremony just so Chuck could get his dance with Casey, then after they headed to a really nice restaurant where they spent a few hours eating and having drinks with the people they loved before heading to the place they were going to spend the new few nights 

"The view is amazing"  
"Honestly, that's why I picked this place, but it also has a pool and hot tub, a gym, and an outdoor fire pit area"  
"I don't plan on leaving this place until it's time to check out"  
Chuck laughed "We are exploring New York, we have the rest of our lives to have sex"  
"Whatever you say, Mr. Casey"  
"Casey-Bartowski"  
Casey shrugged "I don't hate it"  
“Chuck Casey sounds weird, Casey-Bartowksi sounds better”  
“Can we have sex now?"  
Casey looked over at the bed where Arlo had already made himself comfortable, he pulled the sliding door closed "Bed is occupied, I'm going to press you up against the window so we can have a nice view"  
"People in the other apartment building will see us"  
"Not if the lights are off, and if we try hard enough, maybe I can knock you up so we can have a kid a month after Ellie"  
"That's not how it works, that's not how any of that works" Chuck laughed. "But seriously, I can't wait to start a family with you"  
"You mean you can't wait to grow our family together, because you now officially have a daughter"  
"That's so weird, but I’m happy to have her as not only my best friend but part of my family”  
“I may have started this day out mad at you, and the entire wedding being a surprise was unique and special and I’m glad for it”  
Chuck grabbed Casey’s shirt pulling him closer “I’m sorry it happened the way it did, but I’m happy we are here in this moment”

-One month later-

"So I want to talk to the two of you" She grabbed a folder out of her bag she had at her feet. “If you want, I would like to donate my eggs to you”  
“What?” Casey and Chuck said at the same time.  
“If I donate my eggs, they can use Chuck’s sperm and the baby would have both your DNA” She handed Casey the folder “You would have to hire a surrogate, and there is some fees, it’s all in the folder, but with me donating my eggs for you that would cut down on the price by a lot. I've already talked to my doctor and I'm super healthy and my ovaries look good so it should be easy"  
“Alex that is too much” Casey was glad he Chuck couldn’t hear the crack in his voice.  
“I love you both so much, and I know how you two have talked about wanting kids and I just thought this would be a great option instead of using someone else’s eggs and I don't plan on having kids any time soon, and I want this for both of you"  
Casey was flipping through the pamphlets in the folder.  
Chuck got up and hugged her. “We will need to talk about it and look at the finances of it, but thank you so much for that offer. I love you”  
“I love you too Chuck” she hugged him again.  
"Now I'm going to make you whatever you want for lunch because I need a distraction so I don't cry"  
"You know I like anything you cook, but I like those garlic bread grilled chicken sandwiches you make"  
"Oh that sounds good, I think we have everything for that, you two hang out while I make it"

“So what do you think about Alex’s offer?”  
“Do you really want to bring up my daughter's eggs ten seconds after we just fucked?”  
“It’s been on my mind all day, sorry” Chuck was straddling Casey’s lap on their living room couch. “It’s such an amazing opportunity”  
“I agree”  
“But I’m scared to have a baby”  
“Why?”  
“What if they are crying and I don’t know, what if they are hurt and can't tell me”  
“There are devices that let you know when a baby is crying, and a lot of hearing babies with hearing parents know sign language before they even talk, it’s easy. But if you don’t want to then we don’t have to”  
“And what if I don’t want to have kids?”  
“I love you, no matter what but I know you want them because you have talked about it before”  
“Look at you and your feelings”  
“Shut up”  
“Make me” Chuck wiggled his eyebrows.  
“I can’t recover that fast”  
“I can”  
Casey rolled his eyes “Using sex to change the subject you started?”  
“Yes,” Chuck smirked.

"Dad is everything okay?"  
"Shit, sorry, I just looked at the time, we just spend probably a good hour talking and we want to take you up on the offer"  
"Oh my god, that's great, I knew you would, I know someone that may be a surrogate for you, and it won't cost as much, she has done it once before, I'll call her tomorrow and let you know"  
"I know I don't say it enough, but I love you Alex, and I'm so happy to have you in my life:  
"I love you too dad, thank you for letting me do this for you, and tell Chuck I love him too"  
"And Alex, keep this between the three of us for now"  
"Of course"

"Happy fourth of July Ellie, how is the little bean doing?" Chuck went to touch her stomach but stopped waiting for her to give permission  
"You can touch" she smiled "I'm sixteen weeks today actually, only four more until we find out the gender"  
"Do you have any names picked out?"  
"I don't like any names I've come across, but we are waiting until we find out the gender because we have been arguing over it because we don't like the same names"  
"I have no input unless you have a boy, Charles is a nice name"  
Ellie laughed, "I'll keep that in mind, I'm going to check on the boys, the smell of those burgers is making me even more hungry than I already am"

"Okay, now that everyone is seated, I would like to give Casey a gift before me all eat" Chuck walked motioned towards the backdoor to their house, the door slid open and out stepped their surrogate Kelsey, "Everyone I would like you to meet Kelsey, she is pregnant with our child"  
"You're shitting me"  
Chuck shook his head "She found out earlier today, I texted her and asked her to tell me when she got the results so I could surprise you, she isn't far along and anything could happen, but I needed to share it with everyone anyways"  
"When are you due?" Ellie asked with tears in her eyes  
"March eighteenth" Casey signed as she spoke.  
"How are you feeling?" Alex asked as Kelsey sat down next to her  
"Right now it's all excitement"  
"We can all eat now," Chuck said before he sat down, Casey leaned over and pulled him into a kiss.  
"I have so many questions" Ellie squeezed Chuck's hand "But I am so happy for you"  
"We adopted some of Alex's eggs, then I donated my um DNA and the doctors did their magic then put two eggs into Kelsey and one stuck, we have three more frozen in case we want more in the future or it this one fails"  
"So the baby with technically be yours and Alex's?"  
"Technically, but since we adopted the eggs they are ours and Alex has no legal rights. Alex offered so that the baby would share mine and Casey's DNA"  
"That is so cool"  
"We thought it may be weird at first, but honestly we are so glad to have this chance"  
"Our babies will only be a few months apart, I can't wait"  
"I can't either, and just be prepared for me to be texting you at all hours asking for advice"  
"That's okay because I will always be there for you"

“Casey we are not naming our child after a gun”  
“Why not”  
“It’s weird”  
“Wesson is better than Everette”  
“How about Lincoln, that works for both genders"  
“Regan was my favorite president and it works for both"  
“I know” Chuck looked over to the framed picture of the 40th president hanging on the wall of their office. “It needs to have a name that can have a short nickname, so it’s easier to sign”  
“Wes”  
“I hate it”  
“Rem, Remington, Colt”  
“Isn't Colt is a baby horse”  
“Are there any family names you want to pass on?”  
“I’d maybe name her after Ellie, my middle name is weird and you don’t have one”  
"What about after Morgan?"  
"I thought about, but I couldn't imagine saying his name every day"  
"Morgan can be a middle name for a girl"  
"What first name goes with Morgan?"  
"We may have to look more"  
"Why is this so hard? Like this will be our child's name forever"  
"Or until they are eighteen and can change it"  
"Wait, what was your middle name when you were Alexander"  
"I've never had a middle name"  
"That's weird, I don't like it"  
Casey shrugged, "Alex doesn't have one either"  
"I'd like our child to have one"  
"That's fine"  
"Let's wait until we meet the baby, we can have an idea list, but I want to wait"  
"We can do that"  
“It makes me sad that our child won’t have grandparents”  
“He will have amazing dads, aunts, uncles, cousins, he will have plenty of love”  
“I didn’t know how I would feel, but I already love the baby so much and they are the size of an apple” Chuck looked at the line of ultrasound pictures pinned to the corkboard that was next to the dry erase board where they were writing down name ideas. Running his fingers over their little face, the picture of their little toes was Chuck’s favorite though.  
“I hope they have your curly hair” Casey pulled his husband into his arms placing a kiss on his temple.  
“I hope they have your blue eyes"  
"Are you sure you want to wait until the birth to know the gender?"  
"Yes, I think it will be a fun surprise, you can know if you want, you are a trained spy, you can keep secrets no matter how much I torture you"  
"I'll wait too"  
"Ready to go see the baby?"  
"So ready"

"Holy fuck Casey wake the hell up"  
"What"  
"Did you say something, I can't see you"  
Casey sat up and turned the light on "It's two"  
"And we are about to be dads"  
"What the fuck are you talking about, this better not be one of those damn trial runs, I've only been home for three hours, I'm exhausted"  
"Well you better drink some coffee because Kelsey just texted, her water broke and she is on the way to the hospital"  
"Then why are we still sitting here?"  
"Because I'm frozen"  
"Of course you are, you have been over-prepared for months and now it's time and your frozen"  
"Give me a minute to process" Chuck looked at his phone, "They will either be born March eighth or Ninth"  
"I'll get the bag and check the list while you sit there, then I'll help you get dressed if I need to"  
"Is the nursery all set up, do we have everything we need, do we have a list of top five names we like"  
"Chuck you have done nothing but nest for three months, we have everything, we will be fine, now take a few deep breaths, you bought every DC nursery themed thing you could find, the nursery is more than ready”  
“It looks good though”  
“Text Alex and Ellie then get your ass out of bed”  
"Oh my god, right I need to let Ellie and Alex know" Chuck’s feet got stuck in the blanket and he fell out of the bed. “At least we are already heading to the hospital” He mumbled from where his face was buried in the carpet, and even though he couldn’t hear, he knew Casey was laughing at him.

Casey walked into the room where Ellie, Devon, Clara, Alex, Sarah, and Bryce were waiting for them.  
"We have an 8lb 3oz, 21 inch long beautiful baby girl"  
Alex was the first to hug him, "Congratulations dad"  
"Do we have a name yet?" Ellie gave him a one-armed hug since she was holding Clara.  
"Not yet, Chuck is having skin to skin with her right now, then I'll have some time and then they will bring you all back to the room"  
"How is Kelsey?"  
"She is good, she did so amazing, I'm going to head back in there, I'll see you guys in a few minutes"  
"Congrats dude"  
"Thanks, Awesome" he gave him a high five as he walked out of the room.

"You look amazing" Chuck couldn't stop the happy tears from falling down his face at the site of their little girl who looked extra small laying on Casey's chest.  
"Have you thought of a name?"  
"No" Chuck sighed "I feel horrible"  
"I had an idea"  
"Well tell me"  
"How do you feel about naming her Morgan Jade, we can call her Jade or MJ"  
"Where did you get that name from?"  
"It was my mother's middle name"  
"John" Chuck had to stop talking because he was too emotional so he just signed "I love it so much, she is so special and now has a name to reflect that"  
Chuck kissed her forehead then kissed Casey on the cheek.  
"You want to hold her now?"  
"Let me enjoy this site for a little bit longer"  
"Someone just knocked on the door"  
Chuck walked over to see who it was, he stepped aside so Alex could come in "The nurse said one of us could come back, everyone voted for me"  
"Well then come over here and meet your sister"  
Alex sat on the couch next to Casey, "Guys she is beautiful"  
"Thanks to you" Casey was getting choked up.  
"Hey, I had a little help" Chuck sat on the chair next to the couch.  
"You can hold her if you want"  
"Of course"  
Casey laid her on his lap so he could swaddle her before handing her over to her sister.  
"Look at you being a swaddling expert" Alex looked down at her baby sister in her arms "This is amazing, she is perfect" she moved her hat a little to see her hair "Look at all that dark hair"  
"They said her hair may lighten and her eyes might not stay blue forever, but we can hope"  
"Have you guys came up with a name yet?"  
"Want me to tell her so you don't start crying again?"  
"No, I want to tell her if that's okay"  
"I'll get the tissues" Casey got up to put his shirt on then handed Chuck the box of tissues.  
"We would like to introduce Morgan Jade Casey-Bartowski"  
"We will most likely be calling her Jade or MJ"  
"It's perfect"  
After a few minutes, a nurse came in and had them move to another room so the rest of the family could come in, there were a lot of happy tears. 

"Casey this is horrible, we are the worst parents, they are going to take her away"  
"Don't be ridiculous, they aren't going to take her away"  
"Maybe Ellie can come help us"  
"Ellie is at home with her own baby, we only have a few days here with help, let's use it"  
"Who would think you would be the one wanting help"  
"Shut up" Casey pushed the nurse call button.

"How can I help you two?"  
"We are going to be typical first-time parents and ask for help, my husband here is embarrassed and I'm usually the last person to ask for help, but this diaper is killing us"  
The nurse laughed "Well the first few diapers are nasty ones, most parents struggle with it"  
"Why is it so gross"  
"Well if you spent nine months in a sack full of fluid, yours would be like that too" She moved over next to Chuck, "The key is to use the diaper as the first wipe, then use wipes, and make sure to always wipe down. Want me to give her the first bath now?"  
"Sure"  
The nurse put a new diaper on MJ "I'll be right back"

"Look at that smile, she gets her love of baths from you" Casey watched as the nurse gently ran her fingers through his daughter's dark hair.  
"Yeah" Chuck's voice cracker, Casey looked over to see Chuck was crying.  
"Are you okay"  
"No, I'm flustered because I can't watch you sign and watch what she is doing and I haven't had much sleep so everything is making me cry but what if I miss an important step because I'm watching you and miss what she is doing or the other way around"  
"I am so sorry" Chuck read the nurses lips  
"It's okay, I'm not upset with you, you aren't doing anything wrong"  
"How about you watch her, then I'll sign"  
Chuck just nodded.  
"Well the most important thing is don't get soap in her eyes and make sure you clean her neck rolls really good because they like the spit up milk and it gets all in their cute little fat rolls"  
"I'm familiar with the spit up, she covered me in a fountain of formula just a few hours ago" Chuck laughed. "Sorry I got upset"  
"It's okay, may I" she held her hand above Chuck's like she was going to grab it "Yes" Chuck said hesitantly, she grabbed his hand and gently moved it over his daughter's head, her eyes were closed and she had a big smile on her face, it was the cutest thing he has ever seen.

"Chuck, you are amazing, and I know it will be frustrating sometimes, but being deaf does not make you a worse parent and look at her, she already loves you so much"  
Chuck looked down at the tiny human laying on his chest "Thank you for giving me this"  
"I want to talk to you about something serious"  
"Oh is that the plan, get the cute little bean to make me happy then bring up a serious topic"  
"That's exactly it" He laughed moving to sit at the foot of the hospital bed where Chuck was laying. "I sent in my request for retirement"  
"I know you're old but not that old" Chuck teased  
"If you are okay with it, I would like to be a stay at home dad"  
"Why are you making me cry again, of course, I'm fine with it, I love my job and don't mind at all working while you stay home, plus I like the idea of you not getting shot at"  
Casey held up his hand signing I love you.  
Chuck reached forward and pressed his hand against Casey's making the same sign, it had become their thing and every time they did it it felt more special than just saying it.  
"I never thought it was possible to be this happy"  
"I never thought John Casey would be a big emotional sap"  
"If MJ wasn't on you, I'd smack you"  
"Bring it on tough guy" Chuck lightly kicked his leg. "You know the world is going to be a more dangerous now that John Casey is on baby duty"  
"I still have guns"  
"I'm apologizing now MJ, daddy is going to scare off any date you bring home, and he will act tough around you but I bet he will give in to anything you ask him"  
"Don't tell her that"  
"You know it's true"

When Chuck walked in after a long day at the work his heart melted at the sight of Casey, Jade, and Arlo asleep on the floor, looking like they passed out while playing with the plush Army men, or Marines as Casey called them, Alex found on her vacation to Japan with Bennett's family.  
Chuck kneeled and kissed Casey.  
Casey’s eyes slowly opened “Shit, did I fall asleep, sorry I didn’t get around to dinner”  
“Guess it’s a good thing I picked up dinner on the way home since you didn’t answer my text”  
“I have a surprise for you though” Casey sat up and gave Chuck a quick kiss. “It may take a few minutes, but it will be worth it” Casey picked up their daughter. She stretched and let out the cutest little yawn, “Hi Jade, look, daddy's home” he crossed his legs sitting her on his lap so she was facing Chuck.  
“Hi, baby girl” Chuck waved at her “I missed you” he watched as Jade's little hand moved up and she pressed her thumb to her forehead, the sign for dad   
The tears started streaming down Chuck’s face “Good job  
“We have been working on it all day” Casey had one of the biggest smiles on his face that Chuck has ever seen.  
“When she started signing ‘more’ and ‘eat’ when she wanted more formula or food, it was so special, but this made my day”  
“We have one more” Casey held his hand up with his finger and pointer up and his thumb out. Jade looked at his hand trying to copy it, Casey helped her a little bit but she finally got it.  
“I love you too Jade” Chuck picked her up and hugged her.  
"Daddy brought you some mashed potatoes and some veggies"  
"She ate an entire orange, half my eggs, one sausage link and a piece of toast with jam for breakfast, then had a bottle of formula, then for lunch she had half an avocado and some leftover spaghetti, not sure how much got in her mouth, most was in her hair, and two breadsticks, then after her bath she ate some of those puff things and had a bottle"  
"Are you a growing little bean" Chuck tickled her belly, he wished he could hear her cute little laugh, but he loved the way her tiny nose scrunched up. "Well you're in luck because both your dads love to cook and will always make you anything you want"  
"When are we having another one?"  
"Are you kidding? She is only seven months old"  
"And they take at least ten months"  
"You want two under two?"  
"I'm not getting any younger"  
"Well I'm aware of that, but that's a big deal, I may need a little more time to think about it"  
"Just let me know"


	4. Epilogue

"What the fuck are you wearing?"  
"John" Chuck glared at him. "She looks absolutely beautiful, don't say that"  
"Dad, it's my prom dress, do you hate it?" she looked down at the gold sparkly dress she was wearing  
"Why is there so much glitter?"  
"Because I'm a girl who loves glitter"  
"You must get that from your other dad because I just don't get the appeal"  
"Casey be nice"  
"Do I even want to know how much that cost?"  
"Nope" Chuck and Jade said at the same time.  
"Aren't you too young for prom?"  
"No dad, our school does one just for freshman and sophmore"  
"Who is your date?"  
"Just me and Clara, Uncle Awesome is driving us then we are having a sleepover at her house with a few friends and Aunt Ellie is going to be doing our nails and spa stuff"  
"Sounds horrible" Casey teased. "Wait, does that mean Carter is coming over here?"  
"Yes, Carter is coming over here and Alex will be here with Dylan"  
"We will have five kids here? What the hell"  
"Alex and Josh are going to dinner then coming back and staying to help with the kids but you know Carter and Oliver will be playing video games all night and the twin and Dylan will be hyper for a few hours then pass out, we will be fine"  
"Do the twin know yet?"  
"No, are you crazy, if I told them they would be asking us every five seconds if it was time yet"  
The doorbell rang, Casey opened the door "Damn, I thought Jade was too glittery then you show up"  
"Thanks, uncle Casey" Clara laughed. Chuck loved seeing his niece use ASL.  
"Let's get pictures, hey Carter, Oliver is up in his room playing video games waiting for you"  
"Sweet" Carter gave his dad a high five then headed up the stairs.  
"Let's get some pictures, you two look beautiful" Awesome pulled out his phone and started to take pictures.

"Bye dads, love you both"  
"You remember the rules right?"  
"Yes dad" Jade rolled her eyes giving Casey a hug, then hugging Chuck, "I'll call you when I get to Casa Awesome"  
"Hey Jade, you look very beautiful" Casey's heart melted just a little bit at the way she smiled at him  
"Have a great time" Chuck waited until they were out the door before he teared up, then he looked over to see a tear running down Casey's cheek "Oh my god, are you crying?"  
"Shut up Bartwoski" Casey wiped his face "I'm going to go make dinner"  
"Regan requested veggie burgers with that fancy mushroom sauce"  
"She is five, how does she even know what a vegetarian is?"  
"I have no idea, but Spencer said she will never eat veggie burgers or mushrooms"  
"She lives on mac and cheese and popcorn chicken, the day she eats something else, hell will freeze over, they are the most opposite twins I've ever met"  
"I have an idea, lets just order pizza and chicken"  
"Good plan, oh and when Alex and Josh get back from dinner, I need your help in the garage"  
"Oh really?"  
"Yeah, I need some help with the crankshaft"  
Chuck rolled his eyes.


End file.
